Kim Woofter on How Data Will Change Care Delivery in the Next 5 Years

Value-based care will start to transition from being an option to being a requirement, and better data will be needed to improve how care is delivered to patients, said Kim Woofter, executive vice president of strategic alliances and practice innovation at the Advanced Centers for Cancer Care.

Transcript (slightly modified)

What changes do you expect to see in the next 5 years in how we use data to deliver care to patients?

The changes I expect to see in the next 5 years is up to this point it was an option if you want to provide value-based care. When I talk about value-based care I’m talking about the continuum, end-of-life management, and NCCN [National Comprehensive Cancer Network] guidelines—actually following a structured path that’s best for the patient and their family. Up to this point again, it’s been an option—it’s something you did because it was the right thing to do.

I think in the future it’s going to be required and it’s not going to be an option. That’s a good thing for the patient, their family, and the healthcare system as a whole, but we’re going to need the data sets and the data analytics, and access to that on all levels—from large practices to very small. It’s going to have to be cost effective or affordable for practices to get their hands on that technology.

That’s what I think is going to be the biggest hurdle coming our way and the biggest change is no longer going to be an option—it’s going to be a requirement.