Demonstrating the Value of Value-Based Care

This issue of NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery includes articles, case studies, and research reports on substance use disorder treatment, maternity care, condition-based organizations, patient-reported outcomes measures, an inpatient care partnership, warmth and competence measures, health equity, an AI patient summary, environmental impact, and complex care.Value-based care (VBC) has evolved since the concept was introduced by Michael Porter in 2006 1 and later refined by Porter and Thomas Lee, 2,3 among other health care leaders.Porter and Lee are the founding Co-chairs of the Editorial Board for NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery, which over the years has published developments in VBC definitions and outcomes, and especially on VBC implementation.This issue contains articles and case studies on VBC applied to different settings, including substance use disorder treatment and maternity care; the necessary conditions for adopting VBC within health systems; the collection of patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs), which are a key tool for assessing the value of care to patients; and a value-based arrangement between two health systems."Redesigning Value -Based Payment Models to Support Substance Use Treatment Systems" by Francisco Reyes, M.P.P., and colleagues at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health's Substance Abuse Prevention and Control Bureau, relates a 10-year strategic roadmap to redesign Los Angeles County's substance use disorder (SUD) payment model for Medicaid beneficiaries.From foundational work that ties payment to higher-value care delivery and supports core infrastructure development, the authors report increased access to care and growth in the SUD workforce.Another article, "A Value -Based Health Care Maternity Program and Perinatal Outcomes in Brazil," comes from Daniel Haber, M.D., M.B.A., with Unimed Franca, and Filipe Costa, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.Sc.,