Delivering better health outcomes to patients for the money spent is an approach known as value-based health care. Contrary to traditional approaches to health-systems reform that emphasize cost containment, value-based health care shifts the focus to continuous improvement in the health outcomes delivered to patients. The premise of this approach is that systematically measuring, tracking, and improving health outcomes over time can have a transformative effect on the health care industry—enabling health systems to deliver better patient outcomes more consistently; to identify and disseminate best-practice treatments more rapidly; and to control total health-care costs more effectively because unnecessary procedures are eliminated, expensive complications occur less frequently, and repeat treatments are avoided. The only way for health systems to sustainably contain costs is by putting the patient and the delivery of outcomes that matter to patients at the center of the industry’s efforts and by aligning incentives around the continuous improvement of health outcomes in a cost-effective manner.

Featuring powerful case studies of leading value-based innovators in health systems all over the world—both public and private, as well as from both high- and low-income countries—this book is designed as a practical step-by-step guide for clinicians, payers, and policymakers alike to put these ideas into action. The Patient Priority will be an indispensable tool to launch a new era of patient-centered innovation, unlock value in health care, and accelerate the value-based transformation of the world’s health systems, enabling improvements in productivity, performance, and population health.