spotlight

Value-based healthcare - a panacea or a pipedream? There is growing momentum globally around the theory of value-based healthcare and its contribution to developing better and more sustainable healthcare systems around the world. Described by Professors Porter and Teisberg from Harvard Business School, it has been billed in the US as the theory to save healthcare from the excesses of 'fee for service' in insurance-based funding systems, but can it really achieve its aims of better outcomes at lower cost and can it be effectively translated to other systems around the world? Overall I am a fan of looking at healthcare through this lens but there are complications with its application and delivery which it is important to point out. The theory is comprised of six pillars : 1. Outcome measurement - outcome measurement that matters to patients. Here the work of the International Consortium for Healthcare Outcomes Measurement ( ICHOM ) is a useful reference. 2. Cost measur...

Data and informatics for value-based healthcare - a mountain to climb? Introduction Value-based healthcare is gaining popularity as an approach to increase sustainability in healthcare. It has its critics, possibly because its roots are in a health system where part of the drive for a hospital to improve outcomes is to increase market share by being the best at what you do. This is not really a solution for improving population health and does not translate well to publicly-funded healthcare systems such as the NHS. However, when we put aside dogma about how we would wish to fund healthcare, value-based healthcare provides us with a very useful set of tools with which to tackle some of the fundamental problems of sustainability in delivering high quality care. What is value? Defined by Professor Michael Porter at Harvard Business School, value is defined as a function of outcomes and costs. Therefore to achieve high value we must deliver the best p...