You’ve probably heard the term “value-based care,” but do you really know what it means? 

Value based care - sometimes also referred to as value based payment - is an emerging reimbursement model that some public and private insurers are beginning to use. 

Many health care experts are calling value based care the wave of the future. Some are encouraging smart players in the behavioral health world to get ready to embrace the change before it’s too late.

Value Based Care is On the Horizon for the Addiction Treatment Community 

While it’s true that most mental health and SUD (or addiction) treatment service providers continue to operate on the old fee-for-service model, many of our physical health service colleagues have already made the switch to value based care. 

It’s also important to note that Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance companies are all currently considering  - or have already begun - deploying value based models in the field. 

It’s becoming pretty clear that value based care is likely going to be a big topic in the addiction treatment world — and soon. 

With the dramatic changes occurring in health care due to the increased scrutiny associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, we can only assume value based care is now squarely on the horizon. 

What is Value Based Care?

Put simply, value based care moves the focus away from services and onto outcomes. 

With value based care, transactional health care fades into the background and whole-person care becomes the norm. 

What Does Value Based Care Look Like in Addiction Treatment and Behavioral Health Care? 

Value based care means more training for staff, more collection of patient data, more patient and alumni support, more networking with community partners, more wrap-around services, more forgiveness of relapse, less focus on abstinence, and - yes - more outcomes tracking.

Put simply: Under value based care, your addiction treatment center won’t be paid for treatment (or UAs). 

You will be paid for outcomes. 

Here’s the How a Bad EHR Can Destroy Your Addiction Treatment Center’s Ability to do Value Based Care

EHRs are one of the major deal-breakers when it comes to addiction treatment providers making the switch from fee-for-service to value based care. 

That’s because value based care relies on much more data - and much more nimble data - than traditional fee-for-service care. 

Not only does your EHR need to adequately collect and store this new data, it also needs to be able to easily share that data with the correct parties. 

“Legacy” EHRs (code for EHRs that are ancient, annoying and/or broken) simply aren’t up to the task. 

Inadequate EHRs are failing addiction treatment providers trying to make the leap to value based care. 

The main issues: 

Not Enough Data 

Inadequate EHRs simply don’t have the fields that are needed to do value based care information gathering. They are usually not cloud-based and can’t be easily (or affordably) updated or customized to accommodate values based care. 

No Interoperability 

Many EHRs aren’t designed to pull - and SHARE - the information needed to do value based care reporting. 

No Outcomes Tracking 

Enough said. You’ll absolutely need this for value based care. 

No Way to Include Community or Holistic Health Information

Value based care in addiction treatment emphasizes community supports: community organizations, family supports, housing supports, vocational support and specialists to attend to co-occurring disorders or comorbid health conditions. Inadequate EHRs aren’t designed to address this level of external communication. 

Are You Ready for the Future of Value Based Care in Addiction Treatment?

At Behave Health, we’ve designed our addiction treatment EHR to work now - and in the future. 

Unlike our competitors, our cloud-based, all-in-one solution for the addiction treatment community can easily handle all of the challenges that come with value based care. 

Get your free trial started today and see why more addiction treatment centers prefer Behave Health.