How Americans feel about value-based care

Research for the report consisted of three separate parts. In February, USofCare conducted two virtual focus groups with six participants to understand their initial perceptions and expectations of value-based care. The organization then conducted a 20-minute national survey with 1,000 participants in March, followed by a real-time feedback collection session with 100 participants through ReMesh, an artificial intelligence hybrid tool, in May.

Overall, 64% of respondents in the national survey said they preferred value-based care over more traditional fee-for-service models. Among people who responded to the ReMesh session, this figure was even higher at 89%.

However, fewer respondents said they supported the term value-based care. In the national survey, 59% of respondents felt positively about the term, but many preferred other terms, such as "quality-focused care" and "patient-first care," instead. Similarly, around 75% of ReMesh respondents said they associated value-based care with cheap, lower-quality services.

Some respondents were also skeptical that value-based care could actually work in practice. Almost half of survey respondents said they were concerned that costs would increase if doctors saw fewer patients. Similarly, over half of ReMesh respondents said they were worried providers might ignore certain complex problems and that wait times would increase since doctors would spend more time with each patient.

Commentary

Based on the findings, USofCare recommended health leaders simplify messaging on value-based care and focus on how the approach can improve patients' care experiences. In particular, reframing value-based care as patient-first care can help highlight the model's benefits.  

"Our research found that people love the promise of value-based care. They love the prospect of spending more time with their doctors, providers communicating with each other directly, and patients being treated as a whole person, instead of a collection of symptoms," said Natalie Davis, USofCare's co-founder and CEO. "However, we're not talking about this vision effectively: no one understands what 'value-based care' is, and the term can make you think of cheaper and lesser quality services."

"Long-term success for implementing a patient-first care approach requires us to find ways to bridge the communication gap between experts and the real world," Davis added. "We encourage policymakers, healthcare providers, advocates and stakeholders at all levels to consider the insights from this research and collaborate towards building a more people-focused and personalized health care system through by focusing on quality over quantity." (Gliadkovskaya, Fierce Healthcare, 8/22; Lagasse, Healthcare Finance, 8/28; United States of Care research, accessed 8/29)

In June 2023, Advisory Board convened 200+ healthcare leaders to discuss and shape the next era of value-based care. Read on to explore the top five takeaways.