Dive Brief:
- A Quest Diagnostics study released Tuesday suggest progress towards a value-based healthcare system has stalled in the past year. The survey found that 57% health plan executives believe physicians do not have the necessary tools to succeed in a value-based system, up from 45% last year.
- One major barrier identified to achieving a value-based care system are complete electronic health records. They survey found that 72% of physicians and health plan executives say providers lack needed patient information, an increase of 12%.
- The two groups also agreed that quality measures are too complex, a challenge CMS Administrator Seema Verma has pledged to tackle.
Dive Insight:
The Quest study comes as HHS has vowed to accelerate the move towards value-based care and private health plans have increasingly worked to tie reimbursement to outcomes with medical device companies.
But while physicians say that the pursuit of CMS' Merit-based Incentive Payment System will improve the value of care, it is clear the healthcare system has a ways to go before achieving a value-based system.
CMS has been vocal in its efforts to reduce the number of quality measures collected that it deems duplicative or not relevant. Last week, it proposed changes to MIPS, including removing a number of quality measures that CMS says clinicians believe to be procedurally-based and low-value and streamlining certain E&M coding requirements.
"Time spent at the computer documenting and coding for visits is time doctors could be spending with their patients," Verma told reporters.
L. Patrick James, chief clinical officer of Quest, said the new study is evidence of the long path ahead to shift away from a fee-for-service system.
"Measures that optimize EHRs, make data more accessible and insightful, and reduce complexity of quality measurement are much needed steps to accelerate this transition," James said in a statement. "First, however, it’s clear that health plan executives and physicians need to better align around a shared vision of how technology and data can improve patient care."