Stepping into an unknown territory comes with its own set of apprehensions and fears. The same goes for the providers who are or will be transitioning from a fee-for-volume to a value-based system of care. Providers are encouraged to focus on streamlining operations, optimizing technology and improving patient communication and making the clinical changes necessary to transform the way they provide care. However, value-based care is still in its infancy and its adoption has been slower than expected, owing to lurking doubts, questions, and misconceptions. How can providers not only adopt VBC but also succeed in providing quality care?

Transitioning from fee-for-service to value-based care in healthcare has been one of the most important industry-wide initiatives over the past few years. And as physicians are no less than the anchors that hold the ship of healthcare in place, they would be affected greatly by the changes in healthcare, and have a great deal of impact on how care is delivered to the masses. However, according to a survey of executives and decision-makers of healthcare organizations conducted in 2016, 94% of them admitted to being on the path to value-based care, yet only 27% of them were actually on a significant stage- a slow change from the numbers in 2015.

What exactly is Value-based care? This question has been looming in the healthcare space for a long time, and there has been no single definition. In simple terms, it is the shift from quantity to quality regarding delivering health care. This means a conscious effort on the part of providers to avoid truckloads of tests, treatments and medicines and the care provided by hospitals, doctors and physicians will be measured based on its value and not its volume.

Primary care is pivotal to any health system and the healthcare industry has been laser-focused on increasing the quality and access to primary care. Over the years, it has become increasingly clear that the goals of optimizing quality, improving patient experience of care, and lowering costs can not be achieved without a strong primary care foundation.

The dynamic of the relationship between a patient and physician is a very sacred one, everything begins with trust and runs if it continues both ways only.

In the last few years, one of the biggest challenges healthcare has faced on the road to value-based care has been chronic care management. The healthcare organizations we have today are well-equipped to treat acute episodes or countering emergencies, but there has to be a greater focus on managing chronic conditions and comorbidities. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(1) shows the glaring statistics:

The U.S. healthcare has transformed drastically over the past decade and has successfully managed to provide care to chronically ill patients. However, the healthcare system is also well-known for delivering care at skyrocketing costs. The U.S. healthcare system faces significant challenges that call for urgent reform- underutilized preventive care, high spending on complex diseases, fragmented care for chronic patients, etc.

Healthcare organizations have always been working towards delivering quality care and constantly improving the patient experience of care. Patient experience happens to account for 25% of a hospital’s score under CMS Hospital Value-Based Purchasing, encouraging healthcare organizations to diligently work towards engaging their patients and delivering end-to-end care.

Artificial intelligence- a buzzword that was initially created and introduced as a concept to imitate human brain and its actions and operate in the real world with a comprehensive human approach. Since its inception, AI has widely been used in developing and deploying selective defense, space exploration, and lately, intelligent personal assistance. However, AI is slowly making its way into modern healthcare and changing the realm of healthcare as we know it.

In 2011 according to reports, data from the U.S. healthcare system alone exceeded 150 exabytes. With the current growth rate, this will soon reach the zettabyte-scale. A value-focused organization based in California has more than 9 million members and is believed to have between 27-44 petabytes of potentially rich data from varied sources.