Value-based care

The shortcomings of FFS have led to a new vision for healthcare in the US—that of value-based care. Under a value-based reimbursement system, physicians are compensated based on the quality of care that they provide—which can be measured by their patient outcomes and the amount of money they save per patient. The incentive to order superfluous tests and procedures is gone, and the mutual goals of both the patient and physician become aligned. The value-based care umbrella includes a group of physician reimbursement models that reward physicians based on the quality of care provided, each with their own nuances. These models include accountable care organizations (ACOs), bundled payments, and patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs).

The important things to remember from this section are:

• In the United States and most other countries, healthcare expenses are growing in proportion to GDP
• Value-based care is slowly becoming the new standard for physician compensation