The need for better information on the relative value of healthcare interventions is increasingly clear as the American healthcare system moves towards value-based payment models – but existing and conventional methods of value assessment are not sufficient for the complexity of modern healthcare and do not adequately reflect patient perspectives on value. Foremost, we need a better approach to value assessment that puts patients at the center. As part of this we also need a more transparent and collaborative approach toward building the models we use to assess value.
IVI is working to drive innovation in value assessment through collaborative research on patient preferences, novel methods of value, and value assessment model development. We work with patients, payers, and providers to assess what value means to them, and serve as a laboratory for testing new methods to improve value assessment. Our Open-Source Value Project (OSVP) allows for a transparent, dynamic, and flexible testing venue as we seek to improve how we assess value.
We are firmly committed to including patients in the entire value assessment process, and especially from the start. And we are clear about the purpose of value assessment and for whom, as we consider the needs of those who receive, pay for, and provide care. Finally, we recognize the importance of accounting for patient diversity, and that optimal interventions or sequences of interventions, vary by patient characteristics. Patient and intervention heterogeneity is both a challenge and an opportunity.
Researchers, innovators, and payers need to do more with patients and patient communities to define the factors that matter to them – in terms of desired outcomes for a treatment, factors that affect well-being, treatment experience and overall cost to the patient, and factors that influence their choice and adherence to a potential treatment.