SPOTLIGHT: What is a "value-driven" system?

With the prompting of HHS secretary Mike Leavitt, who has urged employers to seek a "value-driven" healthcare system, the word "value" has become a flash point in healthcare discussions today. But the problem is, different stakeholders may still have much different ideas of what that implies, suggests Scott MacStravic in a column for the Healthcare Financial Management Association. Still, though employers, patients and payors may continue to base their judgments on varied criteria, providers must try to address the criteria those stakeholders use, rather than focusing on internally-driven quality measures, he says. Article