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The US health care industry continues a predominant fee-for-service provider reimbursement model, despite trying to shift to a value-based care model for now approaching two decades. Moreover, providers continue to be consumed in a figurative avalanche of paperwork. It is a challenging system for both practitioners and patients, often delivering unpleasant experiences for both.
Ultimately, the goal is to provide value-based care as we continue a tortured transition from the traditional fee-for-service model to a comprehensive method of holistic treatment that has the potential of achieving the admirable goal of improving outcomes, enhancing life expectancy, while, at the same time, reducing costs.
Achieving this health care “Holy Grail” could be as simple as establishing a common set of standards that, at present, seems unattainable because of competing interests among the industry’s dominant players. The dynamics of our bifurcated health care system with no clear leadership came about as the industry experienced a piecemeal evolution over the past century to a multi-third-party payment structure that is generally divided into a market justice system and social justice system.