Healthcare value for patients is measured in terms of the patient outcomes attained per dollar spent.It is the return for each dollar spent. The measurement of this return is key to ensuring the delivery of better health care services. It also facilitates process improvement, care reorganization, effective cost reduction techniques that does not undermine new approaches to reimbursement and outcomes. This program has brought together senior financial and clinical leaders from numerous health care organizations with the common goal of establishing new methodologies to outcomes and cost measurement.

The care system aims at improving this factor for all consumers. There are three major key drivers to the healthcare value. One essential element is to introduce transparency in the cost and quality of services offered. The process of service delivery should be consumer oriented and the payment for this care be based on outcomes. It is important to make all information on the cost and quality of treatment available to all consumers.

Transparency is becoming a major factor in the care system. This has allowed customers access to adequate information which has enabled them to make comparisons of the prices and quality of services offered by the different providers. The patients are now able to make informed choices. The provision of reliable information has further empowered customer consumer choice and revolutionized the entire system.

Consumers have adopted new strategies to counter the ever rising costs and provide them with an opportunity to benefit from their investment. They have developed a culture of health where they are able to participate actively. They monitor the behaviour and consumption of care services through the realignment of incentives. The delivery of these services is return oriented and the consumers are now working with service providers to minimize costs and better outcomes.

The idea of quality has generated a lot of confusion. In practice, quality is defined as the adherence to specified rules and regulations and the measurement is based on care process. Process measures are not effective in showing true outcomes thus providers do not get the information necessary for innovation.

The failure to prioritize improvement of returns in the delivery of care services and to measure it has hindered innovation in this sector and led to poor methods of management which have led to increased costs. The measurement allows for reforms to the reimbursement system to provide bundled payments covering chronic conditions, full care cycle or periods of several years. It is important for providers to align reimbursement with value for them to be able to achieve good outcomes and also be able to account for substandard care.

The delivery of medical care services involves a large number of organizational units. However, none of them reflects the boundaries within which true value is created. The proper unit for determining it should consider all services or activities that determine the success in satisfying the needs of a patient. These needs are defined by the medical condition of the patient.

There are numerous ways of measuring healthcare value. These methods depend on the nature of medical care involved. To determine the value for preventive and primary care a group of patients with similar needs is studied. For medical conditions involving many providers the value is shared among them.