As healthcare providers shift their focus to improving care value, they should take 10 key steps to close the "value loop" and pass that value onto consumers, according to  new research announced during the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA)'s annual conference in Orlando, Florida.

HFMA researchers identified several common strategies among hospitals have effectively closed the loop and develop viable long-term plans, including: shifting resources from established services and operations to invest in value-based approaches such as population health management; emphasis on hospital/physician alignment; and pursuing consolidation/affiliation strategies that improve care quality rather than simply increasing market share.

They suggest hospitals: 

1. Develop four key value competencies that include culture/people; performance improvement; contract and risk management; and business intelligence
2. Define value as it relates to the care purchaser
3. Identify the organization's proposition for value, ideally demonstrating lower overall care costs to the care purchase
4. Develop a common set of purchaser-relevant value measures that tie into the Triple Aim of improved population health, reduced costs and better patient experience
5. Be ready to share responsibilities and obstacles as the process is fraught with challenges relating to unclear metrics, cultural/structural inflexibility, payment uncertainty and patient engagement challenges
6. Understand challenges specific to certain providers, such as rural hospitals, academic medical centers and stand-alone hospitals
7. Create value in ways specific to your provider type: For example, stand-alone providers are better-suited to creating adaptable cultures, whereas multihospital systems are in a position to increase cost efficiency through economies of scale
8. Go beyond cost containment and consider how to reform their cost structures and invest in population health management
9. Rethink collaboration and competition as collaboration between payers and providers has also yielded promising early results.
10. Look for economic patterns between doctors and hospitals as these connections can help align common goals and objectives.

The transition will require cultural transformation as well, FierceHealthcare previously reported, and providers must implement processes addressing issues such as organizational mission, hiring practices and meeting strategies.

To learn more:
- read the announcement