Geneva, Switzerland, 20 March 2019 – The healthcare sector faces major challenges in delivering value for healthcare. According to the OECD, spending on healthcare in 2016 – the most recent year that data is available – increased by 3.4%, the highest rate since 2009. In response, leaders in the $8 trillion global healthcare sector need to embrace value-based healthcare, an approach that defines the goal of healthcare as the achievement of improved health outcomes that matter to patients at the same or lower cost.
Achieving a value-based healthcare system faces numerous barriers. Optimizing its delivery requires high-quality health data, but industry estimates suggest that about 80% of healthcare data is unusable in its current format. Value-based healthcare also requires companies to make major changes to their business models, but such shifts can involve a high degree of risk, and there is often little incentive for the private sector to take on this challenge. From a regulatory perspective, changing the structure of the healthcare system requires strong political will and can generate backlash. The biggest obstacle to the spread of value-based healthcare is that misaligned incentives in current health systems make it difficult for industry stakeholders to act collectively.
As the final report of the Forum’s three-year Value in Healthcare project, Value in Healthcare: Accelerating the Pace of Health System Transformation, released by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group (BCG), describes three major initiatives to address these challenges and accelerate the transition to value-based healthcare in health systems around the world:
A “user’s guide” to health system transformation: The report proposes best practices based on a review of pioneering efforts around the world and on the Forum’s experience with two pilot projects. For example, in 2016, Santeon, a network of hospitals in the Netherlands, launched a joint value-based healthcare programme that resulted in a 17% improvement in positive breast cancer surgery margins. In 2017, about 40 stakeholders came together in Georgia, USA, to create the Atlanta Heart Failure Pilot to improve heart-failure survival in Atlanta by 2022. In 2018, around 35 stakeholders in Canada launched the Ontario Diabetes Pilot to help patients suffering from type 2 diabetes.
A “roadmap” for global health-informatics standardization: This effort lays the foundation for promoting value-based healthcare over the next four years by proposing a global vision and a “digital health bill of rights”, which will be developed in consultation with patient advocacy organizations around the world. This global vision and bill of rights will help governments, patient groups and the private sector ensure that their informatics work is patient-centred and will inform other efforts to harmonize informatics standards around the world.
The Global Coalition for Value in Healthcare: This public-private effort will provide a platform where stakeholders and medical practitioners can learn from one another, develop shared visions and goals, and exchange best practices. The coalition will provide technical assistance and facilitate local partnerships, develop global enablers of value-based healthcare, document and disseminate best practices, and build a global community of practice.
“The coalition will be a global platform for accelerating the development of value-based health systems around the world,” said Vanessa Candeias, Head of Global Health and Healthcare at the World Economic Forum. “It will serve as a source of information and learning about value-based transformation and will convene a global community of healthcare leaders engaged in making value-based healthcare a reality.”
“The World Economic Forum’s initiative on value in healthcare has highlighted the urgent need for multistakeholder cooperation to transform health systems,” said Rich Lesser, Global Chief Executive Officer of Boston Consulting Group, USA. “We are excited for the next phase of this global partnership, where we foresee new levels of collaboration across healthcare – for instance, in the field of health informatics. These initiatives are key to secure the long-term sustainability of health systems around the world and better health outcomes for patients.”
Christophe Weber, President and Chief Executive Officer of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Japan, said: “The industry is all too aware how fragmented and siloed it is. Takeda is very proud to continue leading in the space as part of the Global Coalition for Value in Healthcare, with particular focus on the value-based payments work of the coalition.”
Notes to editors
Read the full report here
More information about the Global Coalition for Value in Healthcare, including its executive board, can be found here
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