How does the healthcare system provide value to people with chronic conditions? It’s a question that has puzzled experts for years, prompting research, systematic reviews and assessments. Existing models tend to measure values held by healthcare professionals, rather than relevant outcomes for patients.
The Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI) is a new collaboration of healthcare stakeholders whose goal is to promote the development and use of high-value interventions that advance health from a patient perspective and to change the way value is measured and rewarded. U.S. Pain Foundation is assisting in the cause through information sharing, brainstorming concepts with IVI’s leadership, and providing the viewpoint and voice of those individuals living with chronic conditions.
“We share the same aspiration as IVI–we need a more balanced and patient-centric approach for value assessment, so that we are connecting the dots between our healthcare system’s spending in terms of value instead of volume,” says Shaina Smith, director of state advocacy and alliance development for U.S. Pain Foundation. “We are eager to see how the perspective of the individuals we represent can influence the conversation, while trying to remain practical in recognizing such a significant undertaking cannot be hurried. People living with chronic conditions deserve a diligent and fair process when developing scientific approaches that measures value in healthcare.”
A unique, new tool in the value assessment space
To aid providers, patient, and payers, IVI recently rolled out itsOpen Source Value Project. The first model within the interactive tool focuses on measuring value in treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a disease associated with high costs for patients and for the healthcare system. According to the tool, the model produces results that can be used to examine the value of pharmaceutical treatments for moderate to severe RA. Over time, new models reflecting specific chronic diseases will be developed. U.S. Pain hopes to aid IVI with necessary input and data relating to such complex conditions in the near future.
The patient perspective
The IVI approach includes feedback from patient consumers to enhance the way value is measured.
“It’s encouraging to see a platform being offered for patients to guide not only the Open Source Tools Project, but other developing initiatives necessary to capture value,” Smith says. “For example, IVI sets up focus groups for those individuals living with RA, allowing the project to feature a perspective often disregarded in the treatment of the condition.”
Patient groups like Global Healthy Living Foundation and U.S. Pain have also been asked to represent specific patient populations to ensure analysis and value assessments are carried out accurately
To learn more about IVI, watch thisvideo.