Healthcare providers hold real-world evidence about a drug’s value. How to convince them to share the data?

With the right tools, healthcare providers can collect real-world evidence about a drug’s value and benefit. How do we convince them to share the data through value-based purchasing arrangements??

In the U.S., lawmakers, payers, and the public are putting pressure on healthcare providers to help transform the healthcare system in the U.S. Despite resistance from healthcare providers to abandon traditional fee-for-service models, the U.S. healthcare industry continues trending towards the adoption of value-based payment models. This transformation includes the ambitious but necessary goals of producing better public health outcomes, decreasing health disparities, increasing affordability for patients, and decreasing the cost of healthcare overall.

At the heart of value-based pharmaceutical pricing is collecting the right data to measure and assess the benefit of a treatment. Real-world evidence is needed to determine a drug’s contribution to health outcomes. As workers on the front lines, healthcare providers are in an excellent position to collect data on a drug’s performance. With this information, decision-makers can arrive at a drug price that reflects its true value to patient health outcomes.

Patients are having trouble paying for their prescriptions

A 2019 Kaiser Family Foundation Health Tracking Poll revealed three out of ten patients surveyed—ages 50 to 64 years old—stated they had difficulty paying for their medications. Drug prices, price increases, and copays and deductibles are preventing some patients from starting, or continuing, the treatments they need.

In the U.S., hospital system clinicians and independent physician practices are expected to choose the best treatments for their patients without consideration of the patient’s insurance coverage status. Providers often have little to no idea of the costs their patients will bear without insurance, after insurance deductibles and copays are met, or after a drug maker’s patient assistance program intervenes.

A patient’s cost-related nonadherence may include not filling prescriptions, skipping doses, taking a lower dose than prescribed, and experimenting with non-prescription, over-the-counter treatments; these strategies affect patient health outcomes.

When patients are already struggling to cover prescription costs, they can’t afford to waste money on low-quality treatments that are ineffective or of little benefit to their health outcomes. Providers also don’t want to waste time with treatments that don’t produce better health outcomes. Therefore, most healthcare providers are open to exploring value-based pharmaceutical purchasing agreements that can allow access to newer, more effective treatments that patients can afford.

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The benefits of value-based purchasing arrangements for healthcare providers and patients

Healthcare providers willing to enter value-based pharmaceutical purchasing arrangements are rewarded with many benefits, including:

·??????Improved quality of care and better health outcomes for patients

Providers in value-based purchasing arrangements gather real-world evidence of the effectiveness of a drug. They collect data that reveal which treatments are the most clinically effective and which add little or no value to patient health outcomes. This could lead to new insights into best practices and new clinical guidelines and protocols.

·??????Increased access to innovative, more effective treatments

Under value-based purchasing arrangements, providers and patients can gain access to brand new, high-cost prescription drugs. Real-world data gathered during contract implementation reveal the new drug’s benefit to health outcomes. Value-based purchasing can also encourage providers to try other lower-cost treatment options like biosimilars and new generics.

·??????Greater operational efficiency and reduced overall cost of healthcare

Identifying and eliminating low-value treatments through value-based arrangements reduces the waste of resources and time for both providers and patients. The provider’s clinical operations can become more efficient and cost-effective, with positive effects on revenue and patient satisfaction.

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Healthcare providers have concerns about value-based purchasing arrangements

Despite the upside, providers are wary; value-based purchasing arrangements are complex. They require careful consideration of what metrics are to be measured. Stakeholder partners must navigate a new level of transparency and data sharing. And naturally, each partner in the agreement wants to include as many protective contingencies clauses as they can think of.?

Providers want to be sure implementation of the agreement doesn’t become an untenable administrative burden for their staff. There are concerns about the technology upgrades needed to collect, protect, and analyze the data generated by value-based purchasing agreements. Will there be interoperability issues with the existing electronic medical records system? How will the data be interpreted and presented to provide actionable insights?

The safest and easiest way to overcome these barriers and get help to operationalize value-based purchasing agreements is to use a vendor partner with a customizable software solution. ?

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The Lyfegen software solution

Lyfegen created a software solution that addresses these concerns about shifting from fee-for-service payment models to value-based purchasing arrangements. We help healthcare providers, insurances, pharma, and medtech companies implement and scale value-based contracts for specialty drugs with greater efficiency and transparency.

The Lyfegen Platform collects real-world data and uses intelligent algorithms to provide valuable insights on drug performance and cost in value-based contracts. In supporting the transition from volume-based to value-based purchasing arrangements, Lyfegen increases affordability and access to health treatments for patients.

To learn more about Lyfegen’s value-based contracting platform, book a demo.