5 Value-Based Care Metrics to Measure Success

How do you measure success in a healthcare practice? With the traditional fee-for-service model, the focus is on volume. With value-based care (VBC), the metrics that determine success focus on quality over quantity. Quality in any business can be difficult to measure. While healthcare metrics are important ways to measure quality, to be effective in VBC they must be focused on patient outcomes and satisfaction as well as support organizational effectiveness and profitability. Let’s look at five outcome-based metrics that are essential to value-based care success.

Outcomes-Based Metrics Used in Value-Based Care

Making the transition to value-based care means focusing less on the number of patients seen and more on what really counts – patient outcomes. The following metrics can be leveraged to ensure the delivery of quality care, which is tied to revenue in the VBC model.

1. Efficiency and Effectiveness

In the VBC model, it’s important to ensure patients receive the right care at the right time and that providers take the correct steps to deliver that care. Doing so can result in better outcomes and helps eliminate readmissions, which are contributing factors to higher costs. As there are factors outside the provider’s care that can contribute to readmission, many value-based care programs look to see if the provider delivered a level of care that could have prevented the patient from being readmitted had there been no outside contributing factors. Because efficiency and effectiveness can be hard to accurately measure, using this type of physician assessment can help maintain a high level of patient care.

2. Timeliness and Ease of Access

Providing prompt treatment and reducing barriers to care are essential to improve the quality of care as well as increase patient satisfaction. If a patient cannot access their physician, it is impossible to receive medical care and resolve health issues. Making it easier for patients to book appointments and reducing wait times can have a positive effect on the patient experience, promote prevention, and lead to better outcomes. By prioritizing timeliness and ease of access, the provider can show that they are committed to high-quality care.

3. Safety

Because safety is of paramount importance, patient safety models are incorporated into the VBC model.

Focusing on safety and providing care that prevents complications and lengthy hospital stays benefits the patient and is also an effective cost-saving strategy. Safety models in VBC will often focus on things like preventable infections and preventable hospitalizations. Safety metrics aligns with the goal of VBC to increase quality of care while lowering costs.

4. Focus on the Patient

If a patient does not feel their doctor respects them or listens to their concerns, they will be less likely to follow advice and may be resistant to preventative measures and lifestyle changes. Patient-centered care, a hallmark of VBC, happens when the physician is empowered to spend the necessary time with each patient to make sure their questions are answered, and their needs are met. This results in better communication, a more fulfilling patient experience, and oftentimes, better patient compliance.

5. Equitability

According to the CDC, health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to “attain his or her full health potential” and no one is “disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances.” Traditionally, underserved communities have experienced less access to medical care as well as social and economic challenges. While oftentimes hard to measure, equitability is crucial in value-based care models and providers are encouraged to deliver care to the entire patient population regardless of demographic.

Value-based care helps vulnerable populations and those in underserved communities by providing a support network that can help lessen health risks and promote wellness.

How agilon Uses Value-Based Care Metrics to Improve Patient Health

To measure and achieve good quality outcomes, it’s important that physician practices have access to data and data analytics. These can deliver deep insight into patient and population health, performance against benchmarks, and ways to be more efficient and effective. At agilon health, we’re empowering physicians to focus on the total health of their senior patients while making it easier to measure VBC care metrics. Our analytics platform turns data into actionable insight and helps physician practices provide targeted interventions aimed at better care delivery.

Leveraging Technology With agilon health

To practice VBC, physicians need technology that streamlines workflow, enhances interoperability, supports collaboration between physicians and payor, and allows a practice to identify untapped opportunities for improved outcomes. Physicians who partner with agilon health find that data collection and analysis become easier because of the agilon platform, which collects, extracts and shares financial, clinical, and social determinants data. Learn more about how agilon health can empower your practice to achieve a sustainable and successful future.