Prevention is better than cure — this age-old adage continues to guide the healthcare industry as it moves from volume-driven to value-based care models. In value-based care models, healthcare providers are paid based on the quality of care they provide, measured by clinical outcomes, patient and provider experience and the cost of care.
According to Ainsley MacLean, M.D., chief medical information officer and chief AI officer of the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group, the focus on prevention is a central aspect of the health system’s value-based care strategy due, in part, to its origins, which lie in providing preventive care to workers in the 1930s.
“For instance, if one of the workers were to step on a rusty nail and have something like tetanus, you could obviously treat tetanus, but if you could do something preventative where these workers receive, say, appropriate tetanus shots or something to that effect, everyone really wins in the end,” she said during a fireside chat at the Connected Health 2024 virtual summit.