value-based healthcare

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a healthcare delivery and payment model in which providers are rewarded based on the health outcomes they achieve for patients relative to the cost of care, rather than for the volume of services they deliver under fee-for-service payment systems; value-based healthcare aligns the incentives of providers, payers, and patients around the goal of maximising health outcomes — including functional recovery, quality of life, and prevention of complications — while minimising unnecessary costs; it typically involves bundled payment contracts, outcome measurement, patient-reported outcome measures, and shared savings arrangements; the concept was developed by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter and Elizabeth Teisberg, and has been adopted to varying degrees by healthcare systems in the United States, Scandinavia, and the Netherlands as a response to the unsustainability of volume-driven care