Value-based care vs. fee-for-service

HIPAA compliant healthcare providers are familiar with traditional fee-for-service payment models, a system where providers are paid a fee for every service delivered to a patient. This type of payment model has received criticism due to how it incentives providers to focus on quantity instead of the quality of care.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced legislation in 2008 to reform healthcare costs and introduced value-based care programs. Let's explore how this benefits the healthcare community and patients.

What is value-based care?

Value-based care programs focus on the quality of care given to patients instead of the number of provider visits. The goal is to ensure lower healthcare costs while improving the overall health of the U.S. population and providing better care to individuals.

Value-based care reimburses healthcare providers based on numerous factors like patient satisfaction, outcomes after treatment, and efficiency of costs. This is a stark difference from providers charging for every service they provide to a patient, regardless of patient outcomes.

Some value-based care programs include:

• Hospital value-based purchasing (VBP) 
• Hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) reductions program
• End-stage renal disease quality incentive (ESRD QIP)
• Hospital readmission reduction program (HRRP)

Read more: Value-based care to dictate 2021 success

What is the difference between value-based care and fee-for-service?

Value-based care ties reimbursement with patient outcomes. This incentivizes healthcare providers to focus on providing higher patient satisfaction, quicker recoveries, lower readmission rates, and fewer medical errors.

Meanwhile, fee-for-service rewards providers that see a higher volume of patients. But this often means that providers don't spend enough time with each patient and possibly order more tests, treatments, and procedures. Subsequently, this may mean a lower quality of care.

How does HIPAA compliant email marketing fit within value-based care?

Healthcare providers could lose millions of dollars every year if they don't meet the CMS score for secure patient outreach and communication. It's crucial that HIPAA compliant email marketing is part of your patient outreach efforts.

Read more: HIPAA compliance and email marketing: what you need to know

Most email marketing providers are not HIPAA compliant and won't sign a business associate agreement ( BAA ) or are difficult to use. This isn't the case with Paubox Marketing . You can easily and securely communicate with your patients directly in their inboxes.

Paubox Marketing also lets you segment your patients and send them encrypted emails about their healthcare. Large-scale email marketing can help increase patient activation and support a value-based care approach.  Our HITRUST CSF certified software automatically includes a BAA, so you can rest assured that you are sending HIPAA compliant emails with Paubox.