Three Reasons Why Value-based Care Works

Medical care can be costly, particularly for patients with chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, or cancer. Value-based care places an emphasis on finding cost-effective, efficient treatment plans, while also supplying the skills to avoid chronic disease altogether. Since value-based care promotes prevention-based services, in the future patients will have less need for medical services such as emergency room visits, lab testing, or imaging studies.

A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine tracked changes in spending, implementation, and quality of care over eight years of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts’ Alternative Quality Contract (AQC) model.