Value-based health care systems need certain data standards and IT infrastructure to operate effectively, according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, InformationWeek reports.
About the Report
For the report, BCG researchers examined how 12 countries are working toward implementing a value-based health care system. The 12 countries examined in the report are:
- Australia;
- Austria;
- Canada;
- Germany;
- Hungary;
- Japan;
- The Netherlands;
- New Zealand;
- Singapore;
- Sweden;
- The United Kingdom; and
- The U.S.
Factors Contributing to Value-Based Health Care
After evaluating the 12 countries, researchers identified four factors that contribute to the successful implementation of value-based health care:
- Establishing a national health care infrastructure that includes certain shared IT platforms and unified standards for tracking diagnoses, outcomes, costs and treatments;
- Encouraging clinicians to collect and interpret clinical data as part of efforts to improve patient outcomes;
- Using disease registries to track patients' health outcomes so physicians and insurers can identify and promote cost-effective care; and
- Providing clinicians with incentives based on outcomes data to spur changes in care delivery.
U.S. Progress on Disease Registries
The report also compared countries' progress on implementing disease registries. Compared with other nations, researchers found that the U.S. has well-developed disease registries like the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry.
However, the report noted that the U.S. falls short in other areas because it lacks certain types of registries, such as a hip-replacement registry (Lewis, InformationWeek, 6/21).