Deliver value-based healthcare at lower cost World Economic Forum urges

A diverse group of leading stakeholders in the $7.6 trillion global healthcare sector are calling for a major overhaul of healthcare systems, designed to deliver improved patient outcomes at lower cost. The proposal hinges on “value-based healthcare”, a patient-centric system that focuses on outcomes that matter to patients across the care spectrum. The recommendations are presented in a new World Economic Forum report, Value in Healthcare: Laying the Foundation for Health-System Transformation, released in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group, and to be implemented in four pilot locations, starting in Atlanta (USA) this year.

Shifting the focus of healthcare to outcomes would enable health systems to address the rising costs, the signatories say. “Value-based care represents our best chance at ensuring that health systems of the future can deliver those outcomes that matter to patients at sustainable, long-term costs,” said Arnaud Bernaert, Head of Global Health and Healthcare Industries at the World Economic Forum.

Supporters of the appeal for a value-based healthcare approach include Omar Ishrak, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Medtronic, Joseph Jimenez, Chief Executive Officer, Novartis, Michael Porter, Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, Harvard Business School, Edith Schippers, Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport of the Netherlands, Simon Stevens, Chief Executive Officer, National Health Service England, Bernard J. Tyson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kaiser Permanente, Rick Valencia, President, Qualcomm Life, and Christophe Weber, President and Chief Executive Officer, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. It is the first time that such a diverse group of leaders have aligned on a system-level approach to healthcare reform.