Value‐based care in hepatology

The migration from legacy fee‐for‐service reimbursement to payments linked to high‐value health care is accelerating in the United States because of new legislation and redesign of payments from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Because patients with chronic diseases account for substantial use of health care resources, payers and health systems are focusing on maximizing the value of care for these patients. Because chronic liver diseases impose a major health burden worldwide affecting the health and lives of many individuals and families as well as substantial costs for individuals and payers, hepatologists must understand how they can improve their practices. Hepatologists practice a high‐intensity cognitive subspecialty, using complex and costly procedures and medications. High‐value patient care requires multidisciplinary coordination, labor‐intensive support for critically ill patients, and effective chronic disease management. Under current fee‐for‐service reimbursement, patient values, medical success, and financial success can all be misaligned. Many current attempts to link health outcomes to reimbursement are based on compliance with process measures, with less emphasis on outcomes that matter most to patients, thus slowing transformation to higher‐value team‐based care. Outcome measures that reflect the entire cycle of care are needed to assist both clinicians and administrators in improving the quality and value of care. A comprehensive set of outcome measures for liver diseases is not currently available. Numerous researchers now are attempting to fill this gap by devising and testing outcome indicators and patient‐reported outcomes for the major liver conditions. These indicators will provide tools to implement a value‐based approach for patients with chronic liver diseases to compare results and value of care between referral centers, to perform health technology assessment, and to guide decision‐making processes for health authorities. This review sets the groundwork for implementing a value‐based, patient‐centered approach to chronic liver diseases within a health system. (Hepatology 2017;65:1749‐1755).