Overview of Value-based Primary Care
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure - Benjamin Franklin
In this lesson, we’ll explore the what, why, and how of Health Rosetta’s Value-based primary care component. Based on everything we’ve seen, we can safely say when people have access to exceptional primary care they’re happier, healthier, and cost less. But the reality is, the primary care system in our country is severely broken — mainly operating as a referral machine to hospitals who have high levels of overtreatment and preventable medical harm.
One of the root causes of the dysfunction is the way we pay for and incentivize primary care. Put simply, there is no well-functioning health care system in the world not built on top of proper primary care. After decades of undermining and devastating primary care, modern health plans are rebuilding primary care brick by brick. Already, in communities ranging from Tyler, TX to Seattle, WA it is now possible to get proper primary care in the entire metro area thanks to employers demand (and high-performing Medicare Advantage plans). One of our favorite case studies focusing on proper primary care, is that of The City of Kirkland, WA. By using an onsite care model they saved $2,400 per employee per year.
The great news is the pay-off, in terms of cost and improved employee well-being, is immediate when there is proper primary care. Every week, we hear horror stories such as Russian Roulette medicine and the employer in Tyler who had an employee costing $12,000 per month due to uncontrolled post-surgical complications from bariatric surgery. Sadly, these types of stories are far more common than most imagine. The great news is when proper primary care was provided to the patient, their costs dropped by over 90% while greatly improving the quality of life for the individual.
Did you know that half of expensive emergency department (ED) visits can be easily addressed in a primary care setting? Many of the people in the ED simply couldn’t get access to their primary care physician like the Ohio woman who went to the ER for a pulled muscle from a new workout routine and ended up having to have her heart replaced due to over treatment complications. More broadly, in well-functioning health care systems, over 90% of the issues people enter the health care system for can be fully addressed in the primary care setting.
Please read and review Value-based Primary Care below.
Additional Resources:
- Value-based Primary Care Component
- Case Study: Union County North Carolina (Video and article) – DPC saves Union County, and the taxpayers who foot the bill, over $1.28 million in health care claims
- Other Health Rosetta case studies
