Why paying for value matters—especially in healthcare

Emphasizing quality over quantity pays off for patients, providers, and payers.

In almost every industry, being paid for performance is the norm. Do a great job, get paid more; do a poor job, get paid less. Incentive-based performance is a decades-old, foundational concept for running a business. Yet when it comes to healthcare—an industry which accounts for nearly 20% of GDP—it was largely an academic concept until the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010. Naysayers have been debating it ever since, but the results are indisputable. Value-based care (VBC) works, and while it should continue to evolve, it is here to stay.