Hospital value-based purchasing program (HVBP) focuses on improving the quality of the healthcare services provided to Medicare patients. This program includes events on evaluating the quality of the services of different hospitals and creating the ranking of medical organizations people can visit. The hospitals with high performance get the award from the Medicare system for providing clients with high-quality treatment. Patients also benefit from this program because they can use the provided statistics and choose the hospital they want to get treatment from according to the quality evaluation.
Even though the primary aim of creating this program is strictly positive, it has both advantages and disadvantages for the patients and the providers. Considering the positive aspects of the HVBP for the patients, Haley and Hamadi (2017) point out that people now have access to information about the different hospitals and can choose the medical organization they want to attend. The authors also mention that another pro of the program is that hospitals-participants now “focus resources on providing better patient outcomes” (p. 316) and, as a result, the total number of medical errors decreases (Haley & Hamadi, et al., 2017). Moreover, the HVBP’s collected data makes the healthcare system affordable for everyone because patients can choose the appropriate from the point of quality and price hospital. Thus, mentioned positive aspects of the program contribute increase patients’ satisfaction with insurance and healthcare systems.
However, there are several disadvantages to be mentioned that patients have to cope with. Thus, Spaulding and Edwardson (2018) held practical research which showed that, statistically, many patients do not respond to the presented database and avoid using it, relying only on their past healthcare experience. If the HVBP database is primarily unused, the percentage of improvements done is under the question, which means that patients who use the ranking can fall victim to a lack of credibility.
Another negative impact that the program has on patients is the risk of getting low-quality medical treatment because of the dishonesty of some hospitals (Haley & Hamadi, et al., 2017). HVBP requires medical organizations to develop in a competitive atmosphere, which means that the focus may shift to gaining benefits instead of increasing healthcare quality. The documents and data can be falsified, which will cause patients to have adverse medical experiences.
HVBP also has a significant impact on the providers of medical services. First of all, the hospitals will be motivated to provide patients with better services, which is indeed a great advantage (Spaulding, Edwardson, et al., 2018). Moreover, the program encourages medical workers to follow a healthy lifestyle and quit bad habits which will increase the self-satisfaction of people and the status of the hospitals they work at.
Speaking about the disadvantages that medical organizations face, the higher level of responsibility is to be mentioned. Spaulding and Edwardson (2018) emphasize that hospitals trying to meet requirements and get a high score can lose track of the essential core of the program. Striving for the benefits, the morality and ethics of the medical organization can suffer. The other disadvantage is the growing level of competitiveness. To avoid colossal material losses, organizations can again focus not on the quality of the patient’s treatments but on the profits of the medical care. Thus, the cons of the HVBP for providers mainly concentrated on the issue of ethics.
Hospital value-based purchasing program has pros and cons for both patients and medical organizations. The critical point of the program is to make the patient medical experience better and improve the healthcare system. Even though HVBP has negative implications, it contributes to patient satisfaction and encourages changes in this sphere. From in long-term perspective, value-based medicine is an excellent opportunity to improve the health care system.
References
Edwardson, N., Spaulding, A., & Zhao, M. (2018). Hospital value-based purchasing performance. Journal of Healthcare Management, 63(1), 31–48. Web.
Haley, D., Hamadi, H., Wang, Y., Xu, J., & Zhao, M. (2017). Hospital value-based purchasing: The association between patient experience and clinical outcome. The Health Care Manager, 36(4), 312–319. Web.