An article in Medscape takes on these questions:

Value-based care is clearly positive for private- and public-sector insurers  in that it can lower costs, but does it overall benefit physicians and/or patients? Should doctors be embracing value-based approaches instead of holding back?

The answer is far from clear.

“Some aspects of value-based medicine could make physicians better clinicians, ” Nitin Damle, M.D., managing partner of an eight-physician practice in Wakefield, Rhode Island, and president-elect of the American College of Physicians, told the publication.

His practice has qualified as a level 3 medical home and uses patient registries that track key clinical measures and show each patient’s need for lab and preventive services. ‘The most value is going to come from patient registries. For example, a registry can objectively measure good diabetes control and identify gaps in care, such as monitoring patients’ warfarin use.”‘

But Dr. Damle adds, “It remains unclear whether value-based payment results in better patient outcomes.”

And other observers have noted how long it could  take before physicians making long-term improvements in their patients’ health would get rewarded for it.