Value-based sleep: understanding and maximizing value in sleep medicine care

Five steps to a value-based approach

In the modern health-care climate of increasing costs on the one hand and limited resources on the other, sleep medicine providers must embrace a value-based perspective to survive, thrive, and grow in a new world of value-based care. This will require sleep medicine providers to learn, adapt, and adjust. The good news is that regardless of your practice or organizational setting, these strategies and tactics will help guide you: 

1.    Know thyself. What are your personal and organization objectives? Where are you, career-wise? Where do you want to be in 2, 3, and 5 years? 
2.    Know your customer. Whom do you serve? More broadly, whom does sleep serve? Listen carefully and identify the outcomes that matter to your constituents. Make these your endpoints.
3.    Develop customer-centric language. Develop scripts. Rehearse them. 
4.    Understand trends in payments and technology. Is your region adopting bundled payments or paying more for improved outcomes? How might telemedicine or preauthorization for PAP impact your practice?
5.    Know your numbers. To negotiate with confidence, you need to know your numbers. What are your costs per patient, per test, per outcome, and lifetime value of the patient?

Summary and next steps

To survive and thrive in a value-based future, you need to define, demonstrate, and maximize your perceived value. This will require greater attention to the language that you use, the results that you emphasize, and the data that you use to make decisions, all while attending to the perspectives of diverse stakeholders. The need for sleep medicine services has never been greater. Adopt a value-based sleep approach to ensure your bright future.

References

1. American Academy of Sleep M. Hidden health crisis costing America billions. Underdiagnosing and undertreating obstructive sleep apnea draining healthcare system. Mountain View, CA: Frost & Sullivan; 2016.
2. Wickwire EM, Verma T. Value and payment in sleep medicine. J Clin Sleep Med. 2018;14(5):881-884.

Dr. Wickwire is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he directs the insomnia program. His current research interests include health and economic consequences of sleep disorders and their treatments and targeting sleep treatments for specific populations.