What Are Patient Perceptions, Experiences with Value-Based Care?

Value-based care is an unfamiliar concept to most patients, but the majority of surveyed healthcare consumers said they would support a system where providers are paid based on value rather than volume, according to new data from PointClickCare.

About a third of survey respondents between the ages of 25 and 34 said they had heard of and understood the concept of value-based care. However, only 7 percent of 55- to 64-year-olds and 4 percent of respondents over 65 reported ever hearing about value-based care.

In addition, respondents with children were more likely to have heard of value-based care than those without children.

Over half of total respondents said they would approve of a healthcare system in which providers are paid based on quality of care, but data show that there is a disconnect between the sentiment and the terminology. Many patient populations are unaware that value-based care is already an option.

Just over 40 percent of respondents reported being very satisfied with the quality of care they receive. But 85 percent of the respondents reported feeling that physicians should be more focused on providing quality patient care.

Most patients reported feeling that their doctor takes a preventive approach to their medical care, but 28 percent of respondents said that their doctor only deals with health issues as they arise.

About half of respondents said that their physician follows up on their care after appointments. Elderly patient populations were more likely to say face-to-face time with their provider is an essential aspect of quality healthcare. They were also more likely to be dissatisfied with their physician’s follow-up communication.

The benefits of a value-based care model over a fee-for-service reimbursement model are abundant. Value-based care encourages quality over quantity by focusing on patient outcomes rather than the number of services rendered. The model benefits patients by increasing the provider’s incentive to deliver quality preventive care while simultaneously helping providers and the healthcare industry by lowering costs.

The PointClickCare survey also polled patients on their thoughts about data sharing within healthcare and found that 42 percent of respondents are open to their doctor using medical history data to inform care strategies.

However, only 26 percent of respondents said they would be comfortable providing their doctor with wearable fitness device data to aid in care. Over a third of respondents between 18 and 34 said they would be willing to give their doctor access to wearable device data, compared to 10 percent of respondents over age 65.

The data also revealed the impact of income-based disparities on quality of care. Over 75 percent of respondents who made $150,000 to $200,000 annually reported having a doctor who knew and had access to their medical history, compared to 41 percent of those who made below $25,000 annually.

Value-based care models are growing in popularity, but the US still lags behind other wealthy countries in terms of health equity, access to care, and patient outcomes. A recent Commonwealth Fund report found that the US ranked last in almost every care category compared to ten other wealthy nations.

Higher-ranking nations attributed their success to a focus on patient engagement and preventive care.