ELIZABETH KOFF Secretary, NSW Health
Value-based health care in NSW Continuing the patient-centred journey
The NSW health system faces similar challenges
• experiences of providing care
to other health systems worldwide delivering
• effectiveness and efficiency of care.
sustainable high quality care in an environment of multiple external pressures. The challenges of the past year of COVID-19 have not diminished our commitment to value based health care and in fact have strengthened the ambition and need for our system to focus on outcomes rather than volume.1 Value-based health care underpins the NSW Health future health strategy and supports our vision for “a sustainable health system that delivers outcomes that matter most to patients and the community, is personalised, invests in wellness and is digitally enabled.” To achieve this vision, we need a clear and shared understanding of value as it applies to our health system.
What do we mean by value? NSW Health defines value as the outcomes and experiences that matter most to people receiving and delivering healthcare, relative to the costs of achieving those outcomes. Our value-based approach includes the quadruple aim of continually striving to deliver services that improve:
These are the four essentials of value for NSW Health. In the words of one NSW Health Local Health District manager: “It’s about understanding what patients need and making meaningful change to their health outcomes and experiences.”
Delivering VBHC in NSW Delivering value in a health system the size of NSW is complex and occurs over a period of time. We have excellent foundations in quality, safety and evidence-based care. We are now building on these foundations and assessing our services to ensure they provide value to patients. This means understanding patient outcomes and experiences, reviewing how and where care is delivered and, where necessary, aligning resources to reduce unwarranted variation. Our move to VBHC is underpinned by a conceptual framework.2 Complementary state-wide programs (Leading Better Value Care, Integrated Care, Commissioning for Better Value and Collaborative Commissioning) are improving and measuring impact
• health outcomes that matter to patients
across the four essentials of value. These programs
• experiences of receiving care
are improving outcomes for patients now while
The Health Advocate • MAY 2021
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