According to a recent survey of healthcare organizations, 95 percent of respondents reported having some value-based care currently in place, with 57 percent having pilot programs underway or completed. In an era of transitioning to new reimbursement models, every department is being called on to support value-based care, including cardiology. For department leaders seeking possible tactics to support their organization, here are five ways that cardiology departments can support value-based care initiatives.
Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures, commonly known as coronary angioplasty, rank among the most common surgeries performed in U.S. hospitals, with an estimated 2.48 million procedures a year. While that figure has declined 27% between 2007-08 and 2010-11, it still represents a significant portion of all cardiovascular surgeries.
As hospitals adapt to new payment models and treatment modalities, a lot of attention is being paid to evidence-based practices, including those related to cardiac procedures. The ideal of evidence-based practice is to provide clinicians with personalized, actionable information they need to make care decisions that reflect the unique circumstances of each patient. That information should be presented as close to the patient bedside as possible to facilitate in-the-moment decision-making.
A recent report from the American Heart Association, ACC and other professional healthcare organizations highlights the importance of shared accountability when it comes to patient care and outcomes. The groups maintain that as cardiologists and other clinicians are increasingly evaluated based on performance measurements, the role that patients take regarding their own care should have weight.
Incorporating the performance of both physicians and patients can support patient-centered outcomes. Cardiology tools that facilitate patient engagement and help improve communication between health team members will become increasingly important in a shared-accountability environment.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the February 2015 edition of DOTmed® HealthCareBusiness News and is republished here with permission.
The concept of value-added radiology (VAR) embraces a number of objectives — from initial involvement with care team physicians in determining the correct study to order, to improving the quality of the interpretation and turnaround time. This VAR concept coincides with the shift in radiology from volume- to value-based reimbursement. Perhaps a more fundamental point of VAR should be elevating the radiologist’s role above merely interpreting the imaging study…basically interpreting the study in a more holistic (and accountable) manner and not based on the images alone.
Although health systems have been adopting electronic medical records because of financial incentives and meaningful use criteria, the utilization of that information can vary widely on a day-to-day basis.
Structured reporting represents the ideal, the ability for patient data, test and scan results, diagnosis information and more to flow among systems in a way that this information can easily be reviewed. Physicians and cardiologists should have access to the right information at the right time and in the right format so they can make the correct diagnosis and guide patient care with confidence.