What’s Value-Based Healthcare?

  • October 5, 2017

    Moving beyond the fee-for-service model in healthcare can be challenging. Premera is piloting a new approach: value-based healthcare. With value-based healthcare, providers are paid based on quality patient outcomes, coordinated care, and appropriate costs, instead of the traditional fee-for-service model.

    A cancer survivor's experience with value-based care

    One such provider is receiving national recognition for improving its quality of care. Northwest Medical Specialties (NWMS) is in the second year of a three-year, value-based contract with Premera. The online news site Crosscut recently reported on NWMS patient's personal experience with value-based care.

    Dulcey Bean, a NWMS patient and fourth-grade teacher, was assigned a care coordinator during her breast cancer treatment as part of Premera's value-based care program. “I always think of (my care coordinator) as my advocate or my best friend at Dr. Blau's office. To me, she was Premera. If I need something, she's the person that makes it happen for me,” Dulcey said.

    View a video about Dulcey Bean and her experience with value-based healthcare.

    Positive changes for a provider

    CrossCut reported on the positive changes that NWMS experienced as a result of the change to value-based care:

    “Aside from the peace of mind the program brings patients, it has also already proven to be a cost-effective approach for Premera and NWMS. In the first year of the clinic's three-year shift to the value-based care model, it has reported a 25 percent decrease in in-patient admissions, a 55 percent decrease in repeat hospital admissions, a 10 percent decrease in emergency department visits and a 21 percent improvement in hospital costs.”

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