The past decade has seen an unprecedented focus on the need to balance the value proposition of cost and quality within the US health care system. The level of concern among regulatory and accrediting bodies, public and private payors, providers and consumers has paralleled the prevalence of adverse events; missed, inappropriate and/or disparate care; and even fatal errors that are reported with increasing frequency. Escalating costs levied on employers, providers and consumers, in the absence of measurable improvements in health care outcomes have prompted the federal government to establish a series of initiatives aimed at restoring value and efficiency to our unsafe, error-prone health care environment. In an effort  to accelerate the rapid integration and positive results associated with a national system of performance measurement and public reporting, programs that once provided financial incentives for participation i.e. reporting, have evolved to ones that reward high performance e.g. value-based purchasing (VBP), pay for performance (P4P). Dr. Dudjak conducted a literature review to analyze the evolution of VBP, contributions of health professionals to the program, and best practices and current research on innovative models. Dr. Dudjak and Dr. Burns then evaluated the impact of a structured education program on the knowledge and attitudes of direct care nurses and nursing leaders at Excela Health regarding value-based care and incentives for quality performance. The next phase of the project will explore implementation of innovative new models of VBP.

PubMed for Pennsylvania Nurse article on this report.