Hospitals revamp board education in shift to value-based care

The move away from fee-for-service, while slow, has kick-started many hospitals’ efforts to work on population health and alternative payment models. But even as support for these types of projects grows among hospital management, another key stakeholder needs to get on board.

The board.

“You’re not talking about doing something different, you’re talking about becoming something different,” said Jamie Orlikoff, president of consulting firm Orlikoff & Associates, of the shift toward value-based care. “And as a result, your traditional business will suffer.”

The nascent shift to value-based reimbursement has been a key incentive to rethink strategy, with most CEOs indicating total or significant commitment to population health in a Power Panel survey Modern Healthcare conducted in 2017.

That’s despite these initiatives not being profit drivers, often cutting down on the acute-care business that generates most of hospitals’ revenue—leading to difficult conversations with board members who see their roles as sharply focused on profit margins.