3 Takeaways From Orthopedic Value Based Care Conference

The 7th Annual Orthopedic Value Based Care & The Future of the Musculoskeletal Space Conference (OVBC 2023) took place in January. The conference focused on teaching financial, operational, and clinical aspects of orthopedic value-based care (VBC) equipping every attendee with actionable skills and ideas they could bring back to their practices.

Carly Becker, Account Executive

Koha Health was represented at the conference by Carly Becker, Account Executive. Carly has summarized 3 key takeaways from the conference below:

1. Value Based Care is Here to Stay.

First and foremost, VBC is not a new concept but a reality, (7th annual was a pretty obvious clue). I would say, if you aren’t on board yet, you’re already behind.

Simply stated, the goal of VBC is to improve quality and outcomes for patients with a proactive delivery model. Payments to hospitals and providers are based on outcomes rather than number of procedures. There are wide ranging benefits across the board to patients, providers, payers, and society, but the fact is, implementation in the orthopedic space is incredibly hard.

The continued transition to VBC is expected to pick up speed in 2023, especially with the squeeze of inflation impacting fee-for-service pricing models. Payers are on board and looking for practices to join them in the arena.

2. Advanced Technologies and Data will be Integral in the Shift to VBC

There were so many incredibly bright and innovative leaders at OVBC. A few speakers that stood out to me discussed how technology and data will be integral in the shift to VBC.

Wael Barsoum, MD, President and Chief Transformation Officer at Healthcare Outcomes Performance Company (HOPCo) reviewed how utilizing remote patient monitoring, AI and predictive modeling to provide infrastructure to migrate acute care out of the hospital, direct-to-consumer at home testing, and delivery for prescriptions and medical equipment will enable value-based care.

Scott Sigman, MD, orthopaedic surgeon, chief of orthopaedic surgery at Lowell General Hospital, and national authority in opioid sparing surgery shared his experience with Remote Physical Therapy. According to Dr. Sigman, advantages include saving and optimizing time to the patient, visits no longer being limited by schedule, providing more accessibility to treatment, and providing real-time feedback.

Bruce Cohen, MD, CEO of OrthoCarolina delivered a lecture on “The Fundamental of Metrics in the MSK Practice.” He noted that value-based care specifically could be measured in areas such as cost/expense, bundles, utilization, complications, financial performance, and outcomes.

3. Relationships and Collaboration are a Driving Force in the Shift to VBC

Finally, the most impressive sight I noted at OVBC was the attendee engagement. We know that for VBC to be successful, relationships are everything. All stakeholders must come together. It was exciting to see people thinking out loud, and others encouraging more of it. I heard some great questions and appreciated some respectful debate. Everyone genuinely wanted to help each other.

Overall, we can all agree that value based care is hard, but I saw hope in the willingness of people to speak up, ask hard questions and really listen to each other. This is what will get us there.

Koha Health has been acquired by Veradigm. Please read the Press Release for more information.

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