Why primary care physicians are at the forefront of value-based care success

Value-based care (VBC) stands at a pivotal intersection: health care leaders are planning to expand participation in VBC programs, and the physicians who are instrumental to success recognize the promise of value-based payment models, but they also need support in transitioning away from fee-for-service (FFS models).

In fact, 77% of leaders say their organization plans to increase VBC participation in the next two years, a significant increase from the 57% who indicated VBC expansion plans in 2023, according to a new survey of 101 executives.

Why? Half (49%) of participating leaders say VBC models are important for improving health outcomes among their patients and 42% believe VBC is central to improving care quality, followed by financial considerations including cost, reimbursement, and shared savings.

Consider the vision that PointClickCare chief medical officer Steve Buslovich, M.D. shared in a Physicians Practice year-ahead predictions article: “In 2026, value-based care will be defined by how well health care organizations use the medical record to connect documentation, decision-making, and measurable outcomes. Each entry now serves as both a clinical and financial statement of performance, linking the work of providers directly to patient results.”

That link means frontline physicians are critical to the success of value-based care initiatives and will only become increasingly important as physician practices ramp up their participation in VBC models.

Value-based care participation: physicians understand the promise but need support

Approximately half (46%) of primary care physicians receive value-based payments, according to a 2002 study from the Commonwealth Fund. In 2024, the same firm interviewed physicians who had not yet participated in VBC models and concluded that they recognize the potential of value-based care.

To harness that openness and align physicians with value-based care, the Commonwealth Fund also found that physicians need support in pursuing VBC. That support should include: overcoming financial barriers via upfront payments, addressing workforce shortages to reduce administrative burdens and associated physician burnout, and aligning performance measures with delivering high-quality care.

The American Medical Association (AMA) also recommends that physician practices consider new technology investments to advance VBC. “These arrangements require a fundamentally distinct approach from the FFS model to manage, track, and report the care provided to patients,” the AMA states in its Investment technology for value-based care report. “They utilize different kinds of technology to promote success. VBC arrangements prompt practices to modify the ways they collect, analyze, document and report the care provided to patients.”

Do physicians understand how VBC benefits them?

While the importance of frontline physicians to VBC success has become clear, what tends to be less-acknowledged is how advancing value-based care can effectively benefit physicians themselves.

Rather than merely adding to their administrative burden, in fact, medical practice leaders have the opportunity to inspire physicians by shining a light on the ways it can empower them and the work they perform to improve the lives of patients and the populations they serve.

The AMA explains that VBC incentivizes physicians to expand access to patient-centered care, coordinate more effective team-based approaches, and make care more affordable including for marginalized populations. Further, unlike FFS, VBC models equip physicians with relevant information to inform data-driven decision making to improve chronic care, disease prevention, and population health management, all to drive quality performance.

That said, medical group leaders looking to increase participation in value-based care models should anticipate some degree of pushback from those physicians who see the change as adding to their workload without relieving any of their existing challenges.

Sharing further VBC encouragement from the Commonwealth Fund can help overcome that perception: “Decreasing reliance on distorted FFS payments would help reduce the pressure to maximize visits per day and instead … focus on the models’ goals of proactively managing patient populations and providing timely care that responds to patients’ needs and preferences.”

Looking ahead: VBC challenges remain as practices aim for forward progress

All of this is not to suggest that advancing VBC will be easy. With the aforementioned three-quarters of health care provider organizations having strategies to increase participation in VBC models, and none indicating plans to significantly decrease participation, physician practices now must move quickly.

That means medical practice leaders need to align as many physicians as possible to participate in VBC models: Either physicians are the key to VBC success or they’re holding the organization back.

Dan D’Orazio is the CEO of Sage Growth Partners, a health care advisory firm with deep expertise in market research, strategy, and communications.