by Robert King | Sep 30, 2019 4:00pm
Value-based care models can’t be about just how to reduce
spending or improve quality of care, according to a new study.
The study released Monday and conducted
by two Harvard University researchers on behalf of UnitedHealthcare emphasizes
the need for such models to incorporate infrastructure support such as
technical assistance. The study is based on an examination of 24 value-based
care programs from public and private payers.
The authors concluded that a value-based model must include
three dimensions.
The first two dimensions focus on payment incentives to reward
providers for reducing spending and improving quality. The third dimension
relates to the types of infrastructure support the payer can give to the
provider.
Infrastructure support can vary from the payer offering reports
on care spending, quality or other metrics to raw administrative or claims
data. Technical assistance is another type of support that a payer can
offer.
“While the financial components of (value-based care) programs
may provide some of the motivation that provider organizations need to change,
infrastructure supports may be necessary to deliver the skills and
experience that enable organizations to do so,” the study said.
To the researchers’ knowledge, few have “systematically
characterized and tallied the types of infrastructure supports that are being
deployed as part of (value-based care) programs.”
The study found that all but one of the 24 programs offer at
least one type of technical support. The most common type of support offered to
providers was analyzed data or reports.
Another issue is the wide variety of quality measures providers
must follow.
For instance, some evaluations would use anywhere from “six to
over 20 different process measures to investigate changes in care quality,” the
study said.
There is a cost and complexity to tracking and reporting on
spending and quality measures that “is not insignificant in terms of time and
financial resources for provider groups,” the study added. “Alignment of these
measures across the range of payer contracts is required to deliver better
value of care throughout the system.”
The study makes several recommendations for value-based care
programs, which include building a stronger relationship between the payer and
provider so data and financial information can be shared.
“It appears that payers and providers benefit from data sharing,
with payers providing more of the financial information and patient touchpoints
throughout the healthcare system, and provider organizations providing more of
the data on total population health,” the study found.
No comments:
Post a Comment