Volume to value

Traditional fee-for-service medicine has put physicians on an unsustainable treadmill of volume that escalates healthcare costs regardless of the quality of care they provide. This article shares the experience of UnityPoint Health (formerly Iowa Health System) in designing and implementing patient-centered, physician-led, coordinated care as a building block for transforming the delivery system. Keys to the effort's success include aligning physicians, hospitals, and home care delivery in terms of organizational goals and having the ability to gather, analyze, and share data to manage population health. On April 16, 2013, Iowa Health System became UnityPoint Health, dedicated to transforming the delivery of care through a coordinated system that offers regional, organized systems of care in most of our markets in Iowa and Illinois. These capabilities allowed the system to enter into value-based accountable care organization contracts that cover more than 220,000 lives. The transition ultimately will lead to population health-driven approaches in which compensation will be based on the management of specific populations or chronic diseases over a specified period. As increased value from care coordination becomes clear, the external environment will demand this better system, and patients will expect it.