Value-based health "is here to stay" and it will have "profound and enduring" implications for the way systems operate all over the world.
 
That is the key conclusion of a new report published by The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Healthcare division a value-based environment. The study argues that a value-based environment "may hold the answer to streamlining of healthcare provision that will make the dual aims of good health and universal access possible".
 
The EIU report notes that value-based healthcare "is enabled by a data-driven, evidence-based approach, which can significantly reduce inefficiencies in traditional health systems" and the UK, Germany and the USA are leading the way. However, emerging economies "can get a head start in streamlining costs against outcome, by 'baking in' the concepts of value-based healthcare as a central organising feature from day one.

However, the analysis goes on to note that this new dynamic presents both opportunities and challenges, so payors, providers, suppliers and investors "need to adapt their business models to stay ahead of the curve as the trend takes hold". The report's authors believe that "emphasis on value and cost will lead to industry consolidation, but where excesses are destroyed, innovation in business models will continue to push the industry forward".

Vivek Muthu, EIU Healthcare managing director, states that "those who ignore or fail to implement a value-based strategy do so at their peril". This requires "a mind-set shift that begins with an acknowledgement that any action in healthcare must improve outcomes for the individual patient and also for the health system as a whole".