A Patient-Centric Approach Eases the Shift to Value-Based Healthcare

Physicians and hospitals face sizable challenges as they migrate toward working in a bundled-payment environment. Yet this transition also offers the opportunity to increase collaboration among care providers, to improve outcomes throughout a patient's entire episode of care, and to deepen relationships between providers and medical technology companies.

Suzanne Foster, Vice President and General Manager of Medtronic Orthopedic Solutions, shares her perspective on this new environment and on how Medtronic can help physicians and hospitals fully realize these new opportunities.

SF. Bundled-payment programs shift risk from payers to providers. We've seen this transition create new focus in three key areas:

First, providers recognize that to be successful they can't go it alone. They engage collaborators throughout the patient's episode of care, making sure they are aligned and communicating regularly not only within a hospital but also with external physician partners and post-acute care providers. They've also engaged medical technology companies for therapy expertise, education, and enabling technologies that help drive outcomes and reduce cost.

Second, these programs have created an even greater sense of patient-centered care in the total-joint world. Hospitals are implementing care plans that include patients and their families. They're also addressing pre-operative risk factors, using the right perioperative technologies, and ensuring a smooth transition to home. A patient-centric approach can prevent the outlier “bundle-buster” episodes of care that might affect a provider's financial results in bundled payments.

Finally, hospitals are aligning more than ever to drive value. They are choosing technologies that maintain or improve clinical outcomes while reducing expense in high-volume, commoditized areas like total-joint implants.

SF. Many hospitals were mandated to participate in bundled payments and were caught off-guard. Others may not have understood how much investment was needed to succeed. Navigating this new environment requires expertise and major investments in personnel, data analytics, patient-engagement tools, and care- navigation platforms. Success depends upon coordination across many different stakeholders inside and outside the hospital. Finding someone to drive alignment can be a hardship for already lean hospital staffs.

People with multiple comorbidities present a particular challenge to hospitals. These patients are at the greatest risk for an extended length of stay, protracted rehabilitation, and complication or readmission. To attain the best possible outcomes, it is critical that hospitals use the right tools.

Finally, hospitals continue to struggle with managing internal costs and finding the balance between affordability and quality.

SF. Medtronic Orthopedic Solutions collaborates with physicians and hospitals to maintain or improve patient outcomes while reducing costs across the entire episode of care. We offer a care-pathway solution, a total-knee arthroplasty system, and intraoperative electrosurgical devices. Three components comprise our approach to the orthopedic market: patient-centricity, a shared commitment with our customers, and transparency.

We encourage patient-centricity through our Orthopedic Care Pathway. This is an end-to-end solution for bundled-payment success. Our value-based healthcare experts have developed care protocols, data analytics, and patient navigation tools that we implement with a dedicated onsite team. The solution is device-agnostic and is not tied to the use of any other Medtronic products. Our success is based on the system's success – there are no upfront fees.

We practice transparency in how we position our products. We recommend use of our intraoperative electrosurgical devices only in the patients and procedures where they provide the most value to the customer. We also recognize that total-joint implants are a commodity. Today's economic environment requires a high-quality total-joint solution that meets the lifestyle needs of patients and can achieve predictable clinical outcomes sustainably and affordably. Our Responsive Orthopedics Total Knee Arthroplasty System is simple, versatile, and intuitive without unnecessary complexity and inventory – and it comes with an affordable price tag.

For more information about Medtronic Orthopedic Solutions, please visit our website.