NEJM Catalyst

"Mental Health Care in Crisis: What Clinicians and Leaders Need to Know" https://nej.md/42DDC6u

Knee osteoarthritis is increasing in prevalence as a result of an aging population. Singapore has one of the fastest-aging populations. Over the past two decades, the nation has experienced a 2.67-fold increase in total knee replacement (TKR) surgeries. This increase poses a significant cost burden to both patients and the health care system. The National University Hospital (NUH) has been at the forefront of championing value-driven care (VDC) in Singapore, with a multiyear pilot project focused on TKR VDC. The implementation of this pilot has allowed the arthroplasty surgeons at Singapore's NUH to visualize patient outcomes and cost data simultaneously for the first time. This encourages clinicians to innovate and apply data-driven initiatives to their clinical practice. The improvement in quality leads to cost reduction without detrimental effects on outcomes. From 2017 to 2021, under the TKR VDC project, a decrease in the average length of stay for TKR at NUH was observed, along with an improvement in venous thromboembolism prophylaxis and a reduction in perioperative blood transfusion. Cost avoidance for the hospital amounted to US$2.2 million over 5 years without any increase in adverse events: https://nej.md/3FydkZX

The April 2025 issue of NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery - a special theme issue that explores value-based care around the world - is now live: https://nej.md/42a887f

Watch the recording of "Mental Health Care in Crisis: What Clinicians and Leaders Need to Know" https://nej.md/42DDC6u

While value-based care (VBC) has grown among health care organizations globally, the many approaches to VBC are shaped by national policies and each country’s systems for health care payment and care delivery. VBC overall aims to improve patient outcomes, reduce costs, and enhance patient experience through care coordination, preventive care, patient input, use of data, and financial incentives aimed to align payment with quality and outcomes. The challenge that VBC seeks to address is, “How can we achieve a high outcome at low cost?” says Jens Deerberg-Wittram, MD, Senior Fellow at the Charité Center for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research at Charité – Universit?tsmedizin Berlin. He has served as CEO of RoMed Kliniken and Schoen Kliniken in Germany, and was the first president of the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement. In December 2024, members of the NEJM Catalyst Insights Council were surveyed about their organizations’ use of VBC models, the impact to date, tools used, and barriers to implementation of VBC. Despite varied payment systems and health care models across the globe, Insights Council members say that national health care policies should support value-based care, and they report progress in gathering VBC-related patient-reported measures of outcomes and experiences. Read the full report: https://nej.md/41V3I2T

Discovery Health, a leading private health insurance administrator and health risk manager in South Africa, developed and implemented a diabetes shared-value program to address suboptimal quality of care and rising costs associated with type 2 diabetes. The program, launched in 2021, monitors key metrics such as hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) testing rates, glycemic control, and disease stage stability, and incentivizes medical practitioners to improve diabetes management. Over a 3-year period, the program has demonstrated meaningful improvements in HbA1c testing rates, glycemic control, and disease stability among covered lives (members). This is associated with reduced hospital admissions and length of stay when admissions occurred, resulting in an overall reduction in health care expenses for members on the program and savings for the health fund, with greater savings anticipated over the longer term. The program illustrates the e?ectiveness of shared-value models in enhancing health care outcomes: https://nej.md/3XWeB3e

The April 2025 issue of NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery explores the current state of value-based implementation around the world. Read or listen to the letter from our guest editor, Jens Deerberg-Wittram, MD, Charité Center for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Charité – Universit?tsmedizin Berlin: https://nej.md/4bVUXu0

Enjoyed our session at Massachusetts Medical Society's Future Health Best conference! "Improving the Value of Health Care and Accelerating Care Delivery Transformation" with Rushika Fernandopulle, MD, MPP, FACP, Nichola Davis, MD, MS, and Namita Seth Mohta, MD #FHB2025

?? Out now: Value-based care theme issue, April 2025. Guest edited by Jens Deerberg-Wittram, MD, this special issue explores the current state of value-based care implementation around the world, including patient-centered outcomes measurement and value-based care applied to type 1 and type 2 diabetes care, knee replacement surgery, and health care policy. ?? View the issue: https://nej.md/42a887f ?? Read or listen to the letter from our guest editor - Achieving the Promise of Value-Based Care: https://nej.md/4bVUXu0 ?? Insights Report: Global Progress on Value-Based Care https://nej.md/41V3I2T ?? In Depth: Improving Diabetes Care in South Africa Through a Shared-Value Model https://nej.md/3XWeB3e ?? Case Study: Value-Driven Care Methodology in Total Knee Replacement Surgery in Singapore https://nej.md/3FydkZX ?? Case Study: A Novel 10-Year Value-Based Contract to Improve Type 1 Diabetes Care in the Netherlands https://nej.md/3DIVWBh ?? Commentary: Outcomes That Matter to Patients: ICHOM as a Catalyst for Value-Based Care https://nej.md/4bxrKpb ?? Commentary: Crossing the Chasm: How to Expand Adoption of Value-Based Care https://nej.md/4bHIoCv

We are excited to announce that Dr. Namita Seth Mohta, Executive Editor of NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery, will join us on Wednesday, March 19, at the 2025 Future Health: Best Practices for Advancing Care conference as a moderator for our session on Improving the Value of Health Care and Accelerating Care Delivery Transformation. Register now: https://ow.ly/V8mt50VfVOT Do not miss the great opportunity!