The European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Health has launched a new, in-depth framework for adopting and accelerating Value-Based Health Care (VBHC) across Europe.
The new framework, ‘Implementing Value-Based Health Care: Handbook for Pioneers’, defines the key steps that will be critical to implementing VBHC in health services across Europe. Designed using insights from established pioneers in the field, it aims to help healthcare providers fully realise the opportunity presented by VBHC and drive forward a medical culture shift in Europe.
Rather than the traditional volume-based healthcare provision that is modelled on fee-for-product or service, VBHC provides a methodology for measurable health and care outcomes that make the biggest difference to patients, while driving cost efficiencies within health services.
Jan Philipp-Beck, CEO at EIT Health, said: “In recent years, there has been a growing interest in VBHC in the health community in Europe; however, the focus has been on why it is the way forward, rather than how we effectively implement such a change. This is why we created this framework, to provide an in-depth guide on how healthcare managers and practitioners can orient efforts and resources towards necessary transformation.
“Currently, many of Europe’s healthcare systems measure the wrong things, which can lead to inefficiencies in cost, time, and resources, not to mention the impact on the patient. Metrics focus on volume rather than patient outcomes, and this is simply unsustainable for healthcare systems. At EIT Health, we are uniquely placed to connect successful pioneers in the field with those just starting out, as well as share tools and best practices to help measure outcomes to drive this cultural shift within Europe’s healthcare systems.”
Wasted resources in healthcare
The World Health Organization (WHO) and The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimate that around 30% of resources currently spent on healthcare are wasted on avoidable complications, unnecessary treatments or administrative inefficiencies. EIT Health’s framework aims to change this through kick-starting development towards measurable value, and therefore support more sustainable models.
The framework includes an ‘Implementation Matrix’, which sets out a clear and structured framework for healthcare providers to follow.
It defines five key steps to help healthcare providers activate and accelerate VBHC including: recording, comparing, rewarding, improving, and partnering. It also captures a shared language across nine building blocks for describing, visualising and successfully implementing a value-based solution, and outlines how to measure and maximise the outcomes that matter to patients, addressing the main challenges such as lack of standardised outcome data and resistance to change.
Professor Gregory Katz said: “Today in Europe, VBHC pioneers are choosing to take bold action to measure, compare and improve patient outcomes. This momentum is mainly building from the bottom up, through entrepreneurial initiatives.
“As care results vary tremendously between therapeutic approaches and medical teams, transparent outcome benchmarks enable the detection of medical innovations and the reduction of inappropriate care. There are good reasons to be impatient for improving healthcare through VBHC, but there are also reasons to be humble. VBHC is still in its infancy, and successful implementation takes time. Becoming a VBHC early adopter opens the opportunity to learn proactively and spearhead high-value care.”
VBHC as the new norm across Europe
The handbook was commissioned by EIT Health under its Think Tank thought leadership forum, which explores the most pressing topics for the health of Europe and its citizens, and marks the first in a series of activities being launched by EIT Health that are designed to support a step-change in the provision of healthcare, and integration of VBHC as the new norm across Europe.
The EIT Health handbook has been directed by Professor Gregory Katz, Chair of Innovation & Value in Health at the University of Paris School of Medicine and devised in collaboration with esteemed experts from across leading European organisations. The new framework is based on several VBHC case studies from some of Europe’s leading health organisations, including: Santeon, Basel University Hospital, Uppsala Academic Hospital, Martini Klinik, New Karolinska Hospital, Diabeter, Netherlands Heart Registry, Gla:d, Menzis and NHS Wales.
