To address the growing crises confronting the global health sector, health systems need to deliver better health outcomes to patients for the money spent, an approach known as value-based health care. Contrary to traditional approaches to health-systems reform that emphasize cost containment, value-based health care shifts the focus to continuous improvement in the outcomes delivered to patients. Systematically measuring, tracking, and improving health outcomes over time can have a transformative effect, enabling health systems to:

• deliver better patient outcomes and overall population health more consistently
• identify and disseminate best-practice diagnoses and treatments more rapidly
• control total health-care costs more effectively because unnecessary procedures are eliminated, expensive complications occur less frequently, and repeat treatments are avoided
• rebuild the trust and motivation of health professionals by aligning system performance goals with professional purpose

The only way for the health care sector to sustainably contain costs and fulfill its mission is by putting the patient and the delivery of outcomes that matter to patients at the center of the industry’s efforts and by aligning incentives around the continuous improvement of health outcomes in a cost-effective manner.Designed by thought leaders at Boston Consulting Group as a practical step-by-step guide for clinicians, payers, policymakers, and other industry stakeholders, The Patient Priority features powerful case studies of leading value-based innovators ―both public and private, as well as from both high- and low-income countries―that are taking the concept of value-based health care from theory to practice. The book also presents a detailed road map for the comprehensive value-based transformation of national health systems. This book is an indispensable tool to launch a new era of patient-centered innovation, unlock value in health care, and bring about step-function improvements in productivity, performance, and population health.