Improving Value for Patients with Eczema.

OBJECTIVE: Chronic diseases now represent a cost majority in the United States health care system. Contributing factors to rising costs include expensive novel and emerging therapies, under-treatment of disease, under-management of comorbidities, and patient dissatisfaction with care results. Critical to identifying replicable improvement methods is a reliable model to measure value.

STUDY DESIGN: If we understand value within healthcare consumerism to be equal to a patient's health outcome improvement over costs associated with care (Value=Outcomes/Costs), we can use this equation to measure the improvement of value.

METHODS: Research and literature show that patient activation-the skills and confidence that equip patients to become actively engaged in their health care-impact health outcomes, costs, and patient experience. Reaching patient activation through engagement methods including shared decision-making (SDM) lead to improved value of care received. The National Eczema Association (NEA) Shared Decision-Making Resource Center can be a transformative strategy to measure and evaluate value of health care interventions for eczema patients to advance a value-driven health care system in the United States.

RESULTS: Through this Resource Center, NEA will measure patient value through their own perceptions using validated PRO instruments and other patient-generated health data.

CONCLUSIONS: Assessment of this data will reveal findings that can assist researchers in evaluating the impact this care framework on patient-perceived value across other chronic diseases.