Aug 24 2023
Reshaping Primary Care: Embracing Payment Reforms and VBC Technology
Primary care is meant to be the foundation of our healthcare system, yet it receives only 4-6% of total US healthcare spending. That under-investment is one reason—if not “the” reason—why the US spends more on healthcare but has the worst outcomes among high-income countries, according to a Commonwealth Fund report. Our current fee-for-service system incentivizes volume over value. Despite industry rhetoric about the importance of primary care, it remains poorly resourced and ill-equipped to deliver the comprehensive, continuous care patients need. Meanwhile, clinicians’ frustration with low payment, administrivia, and fragmented technology saps the joy of delivering care from their lives, fueling record-setting levels of burnout and a worsening shortage of primary care physicians. On today’s show, the IA panel explores how we can, and why we must, focus on and transform primary care through innovations in payment models; innovations in healthcare IT; and innovations in the marketplace by primary care startups (those funded by private investors, private equity, venture capitalists) and established corporations, such as retailers, pharmacy chains, insurers, and healthcare leaders. Joining Innovaccer’s Sean Hogan on the panel is Ann Greiner, the president and CEO of the Primary Care Collaborative, a not-for-profit association working to advance an effective and efficient health system built on a strong foundation of primary care and the patient-centered medical home. Also taking a seat on the panel is Forbes columnist Seth Joseph, the managing director at Summit Health Advisors, an advisory and consultancy focused exclusively in healthcare, and primarily working with digital health startups and investors. Here’s what the panel debated: The underappreciated role of primary care in the US healthcare systemTop challenges facing primary care, including lack of investment and resources, clinician burnout, and payment and reimbursement issuesDifferences between a primary care-centered model and our current healthcare system—and why they matterHow a strong primary care system produces better prevention, care coordination, and lower costsWhy there’s underinvestment in primary care Innovative payment reforms that can better support primary careWhy a hybrid approach to payment and care delivery can deliver better, equitable patient careUse, under-use, and misuse of technology and information systems in healthcare, and their ripple effectsHow achieving IT systemness makes such a shift possible and improve health equity and accessibilityMeasures to improve health equity and equal access to quality careFragmentation in the healthcare system, why and how to end itEmergence of new primary care models and the companies investing in themNetwork effects’ impact on care coordination enabled by technologyDesigning provider- and patient-centric technology solutionsWays to scale promising innovations in primary careTechniques to improve care team satisfaction to cool burnoutUntapped opportunities for pharmacists to partner with primary careThe investor perspective on healthcare innovation Show Resources The Innovation Accelerator Vodcast The Innovaccer Platform Get a Demo Visit the Innovaccer WebsiteSubscribe to the Innovation Accelerator PodcastContact Us