Dr Richard Snyder Emphasizes the Importance of Care Coordination in Value-Based Contracting

Population health management and coordination of care are integral to value-based contracting, explained Richard Snyder, MD, executive vice president of Facilitated Health Networks and chief medical officer at Independence Blue Cross.

Transcript

How important are population health management and coordination of care in value-based contracting?

They’re actually integral to value-based contracting. When we do episode of care payments, we are paying for a period of time and everything that happens in that period of time, so it’s critically important that the right patients are chosen for that episode, that there’s extremely good coordination to prevent leakage out of the system of care to other systems, and ultimately that patients adhere to any medication regimens that they’re prescribed and that post-acute care when the patient goes home for a period of time, that’s included in the episode, is well managed so they don’t bounce back to an emergency room or a hospital or end up having a complication that could have been otherwise avoided if we had been monitoring them more closely.

In today’s world, we have technology, whether it’s video capabilities or Bluetooth enabled monitoring devices to determine whether patients are adhering to their treatment plans and whether they’re having any early signs of a complication that could result in a readmission to the hospital or emergency room or avoidable testing and treatment.