In a traditional volume-based, fee-for-service healthcare model, doctors are paid for every patient seen and service delivered, which leads to over treatment and unnecessary, costly care. This “churn and burn” mentality fails to empower the providers to make the best treatment decisions.

Doctors who care for their patients under the volume-based model tend to see far more patients than a doctor that practices value-based care. This is because the likelihood of mistreatment leads to patient readmission. When doctors are paid by visits and services, they are inspired by the potential commission and tend to overlook the necessary steps required to help each individual patient.

Under a value-based model, providers are motivated to be thoughtful about efficient and timely utilization management. Rather than unnecessarily drawing out inpatient stays with redundant tests and costly consults, providers equipped with the medical knowledge to streamline clinical workflows can select higher efficacy treatments and reduce overall lengths of stay. 

Under value-based care, the quality of care is valued more than the quantity of care. Providers are incentivized to use evidence-based medicine, patient education, and data analytics to reduce the likelihood of patient readmissions. When patients receive more personalized and effective treatments, providers are rewarded monetarily all while seeing a smaller pool of patients.

Interested in learning more about value-based care? See what value-based care means to patients and hospitals.

The concept of value-based care is relatively new and complex. That's why we created our educational series called “HNI FYI” — to educate our readers about value-based care and its impact on healthcare. Make sure to subscribe to the HNI Insider blog and follow our social media accounts for more HNI FYI posts as we continue to share them throughout the month.

Connect with us. 

We are experts in implementing value-based care strategies. See how we can improve your program.