Op-Ed – Technology Opportunities to Scale Value-Based Care

One of the rare areas that has received bipartisan support from a federal policy perspective is the shift in healthcare payment models from Fee For Service (FFS) to a system that recognizes value and quality at the lowest cost. The Healthcare Payment and Learning Action Network (HCP-LAN), a consortium of public and private healthcare organizations supporting the adoption of alternative payment models, has set an ambitious goal. 

If the HCP-LAN goal of 100% Medicare spend by 2025 through shared accountability models is to be realized, there needs to be a transformative change in the information infrastructure that is increasingly vital to the healthcare system. While recent policy changes including the final interoperability rule, incentives to support the adoption of certified Electronic Health Records (EHR) and other initiatives do enable incremental progress, they stop short of addressing critical business process issues that impede scalability of value-based care delivery models. The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our healthcare system has accelerated the need to manage this shift in a scalable manner.