Delivering Value-Based Eye Care

I am passionate about value-based healthcare for patients in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. This is why, about two and a half years ago, my team and I began a surgical outcome-based registry project focused on gathering patient data from industry groups, NGOs, and major eye care institutions that have committed to being transparent. We asked these partners – including our customers – for their registries so that we could explore variations in ophthalmic patient surgical outcomes and ensure that they are more predictable and standardized in the future.

We have been entering into agreements with clinicians who are happy to participate in this project, collecting their pre- and post-op datasets, and tracking outcomes using an application we have created that can be integrated into any hospital system. Recently, we have seen a significant increase in clinicians interested in participating in the project. Once we receive their data, we look at the whole spectrum of patient involvement – discussions prior to surgery, surgical techniques, and outcomes. We also consider standardized patient-reported outcomes measurement data. We then compare outcomes in different institutions and look for any variations.

We have found that the database we’ve created has already been helpful in reducing spend, in part because it encourages institutions to adopt market innovations. For me, though, improved patient-centric measurements are the most important part of this project.

Focus on the patient
 

This is why, following work with partners in France and Switzerland to gather patient comparisons from 10 different hospitals, we have started a value-based healthcare pilot in partnership with the Rotterdam Eye Hospital in the Netherlands. Working in Europe is interesting, but also challenging, because there are many different healthcare systems to navigate, each working differently. For partly or fully publicly funded healthcare systems and teaching institutions, it is crucial that datasets are available to justify the value of any product, device, or technology they may be considering. We have seen that ophthalmologists across Europe are keen to start conversations about standards and reducing outcome variability. We have received great feedback from clinicians, who hugely value our scientific and evidence-based approach and are keen to ensure that practice is not influenced by any biases or socioeconomic factors.

I believe that value-based healthcare is not just central to Johnson & Johnson Vision’s strategy, but will be the foundation of ophthalmology’s future. Creating standards and reducing outcome variability is exciting – and I feel inspired to be working with so many great partners to create a new, more patient-centric approach to care.