Ensuring patient-focused care and a successful transition to value-based care will require a complete overhaul of the way data is measured and applied to healthcare, according to a Jan. 25 report in Health Affairs.
Instead of a universal approach to measuring care standards, agencies such as the National Quality Forum and Joint Commission set their own standards and reporting processes. The current healthcare system uses measures of clinical processes and services to evaluate standards of care instead of looking at symptom reduction, quality of life or longevity, according to the report, written by a member of the nonprofit organization Purchaser Business Group on Health.
To build high value data structures, the report suggests policymakers and industry leaders consider the following:
- Modernize health data collection by centering the patient instead of organizations.
- Ensure data interoperability so providers can easily supply and receive information.
- Capture data on how innovations in healthcare affect patient populations to track progress.
- To ensure policymakers commit to changing measures of health outcomes, the report calls for the creation of an independent agency with the power to decide standard, nationwide measures.
- Create a high-profile example of proof that the shift to value-based care and standard data reporting works, possibly through a multipayer trial partnered with the CMS innovation center.