Value-based purchasing - National programs to move from volume to value

摘要

The National Quality Strategy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services broadly defines the outcomes that the Centers for Medicare and Med-icaid Services (CMS) wants to achieve through the care it purchases for its beneficiaries. The strategy's three aims of better health, better care, and lower costs capture CMS's concept of value -improved outcomes for individuals and populations at lower costs. CMS has many tools to support the three aims, but we believe that value-based purchasing (VBP) is one of the most potentially transformational. VBP rewards providers who deliver better outcomes in health and health care for the beneficiaries and communities they serve at lower cost. Unlike voluntary programs, such as the Shared Savings Program, VBP applies to nearly all providers in a given setting. Two programs are under way, and a third will begin next year (see box).