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Over the past decade, health care providers and insurance plans have increasingly pursued value-based care models that are designed to improve patient and clinician experiences while reducing costs and improving quality to produce better population health. With more community and consumer engagement, these models have huge potential for advancing key consumer priorities, including affordability, effective care coordination and communication, data sharing, and providing whole-person care. However, progress has been relatively slow, and the opportunity to engage patients in their care has not yet been fully realized. As value-based care models continue to improve and evolve, the definition of “value” for consumers and patients must also be broadened to include reducing inequities in access and quality.
As consumer/patient advocacy members of the Health Care Transformation Task Force, a multistakeholder consortium committed to accelerating the pace of value-based care transformation, we strongly support ongoing efforts to move to a person-centered, value-based payment system that prioritizes strategies to achieve health equity. Here, we share our vision for how individuals, patients, and families can be best served by accountable care models that center on individual needs and preferences. Meaningful, equity-focused, value-based care is a promising and necessary alternative to fee-for-service medicine. We also call for action to increase provider uptake of value-based care models and engage patients and communities in their development, implementation, and evaluation.