It’s been an eventful month for value-based care and health equity!

We’ve all been tuned in to see what lies ahead with a new administration and new leadership at HHS, CMS, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). While some models are under review, there seems to be no doubt about moving forward on the journey to value. According to Liz Fowler, Deputy Administrator and Director of the CMMI, “…our commitment to value-based care has never been stronger”. An overview of her opening plenary at the NAACOs Spring 2021 Conference went on to note “Every stage of CMMI’s models—model development, participant recruitment, model evaluation, etc.—should take into account health equity.”[1]

Last week the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) released a new study and report on Implementing High-Quality Primary Care: Rebuilding the Foundation of Health Care (2021)[2]. Five years after the 1996 Institute on Medicine (IOM) report: Primary Care: America’s Health in a New Era[3], this new set of recommendations promote primary care as a common good and speak to the role of primary care in achieving health equity goals. HealthTeamWorks board member, Dr. Kameron Matthews, was acknowledged in the publication for her considerable help as a National Academy of Medicine Fellow.

This week NASEM released The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity[4], proposing nine recommendations optimizing the education, role, and well-being of nursing to address inequities and social determinants of health (SDoH).

How are value-based care and health equity related?

Directly! If value-based care is keenly focused on improving quality (including patient experience) and cost of care, achieving health equity and the provision of culturally competent care is a common thread. Advanced primary care drivers, sometimes referred to as comprehensive primary care functions, are wholly ineffective if inequity exists. Improvements in access to care and information, population health, and behavioral health must be informed by lived experience and social needs.

Health. Equity. Resilience.

This is HealthTeamWorks’ vision and what drives us in our work across healthcare. Culturally responsive care is baked into our interactive change package as we work to collaboratively transform healthcare through performance improvement, organization development, and training resulting in strengthened communities.

For more information, contact us at solutions@healthteamworks.org.