Building on value-based health care
A reminder:
Within the context of solidarity-based European health care systems and the mounting concerns about ensuring financial sustainability of universal health care, the European Commission Expert Panel on
Effective Ways in Investing in Health (EXPH) [3] proposed a comprehensive concept of value-based health care based on four pillars of value:
• achievement of best possible outcomes with available resources (technical value);
• equitable distribution of resources across all patient groups (allocative value);
• appropriate care to achieve each patient’s personal goals (personal value);
• contribution of health care to social participation and connectedness (societal value).
Examples of value-based health care initiatives identified by the EXPH that can contribute to more effective, accessible and resilient health care systems include: reallocation of resources through disinvestment for reinvestment; addressing unwarranted variation, defined as variation in the utilization of health care services that cannot be explained; fighting corruption, fraud and misuse of public resources; increasing public value in biomedical and health research; regulatory policies aimed at improving access to high-value (but costly) medicines; incentives for fairer distribution; and more optimal use of resources.
A well known approach, opposite to creating value through market competition (Porter style).
