The U.S. healthcare system has long leaned toward reaction over prevention. Emergency rooms continue to overflow while access to early care remains out of reach for many. Preventive care isn't just underperforming; it is structurally unsupported. The result is higher costs, worsening outcomes, and a growing burden on clinicians. The solution is not more volume. True progress depends on value-based preventive care that is proactive, data-informed, and designed to keep patients well before emergencies arise.
Why the Current Model Can’t Keep Up
Preventive care should be the front line of health, not the fallback. Studies show only 8% of Americans receive routine preventive screenings. Missed appointments are rarely about forgetfulness. Patients are deterred by high out-of-pocket costs, complex insurance requirements, and logistical barriers like long wait times or limited appointment availability. On the provider side, fragmented workflows and overwhelming administrative demands make early intervention difficult to prioritize, track, or scale.
Behind every missed screening are layers of paperwork. According to the 2023 Medscape Physician Compensation Report, the average physician spends about 15.5 hours per week on paperwork and administration—with around 9 hours on EHR documentation. However, certain specialties (e.g., physical medicine and rehabilitation or internal medicine) may spend up to 18–19 hours per week on paperwork and admin tasks.
In 2022, Physicians for a National Health Program reported that there are now approximately 10 non-clinical administrative staff for every physician in the U.S. This includes not just senior hospital executives, but also compliance officers, quality reporting coordinators, billing and coding teams, utilization review analysts, and other office-based roles that do not deliver direct patient care. Since 1975, this broader administrative workforce has grown by 3,200%, far outpacing the growth of the physician workforce. Today, more than 30% of the U.S. healthcare workforce is made up of administrators rather than clinicians.
Addressing these structural challenges requires a more proactive, outcomes-driven model. Value-based preventive care offers a practical path forward—one that prioritizes timely, efficient, and patient-centered interventions.
Value-Based Preventive Care: A Framework That Rewards What Matters
Value-based care shifts the focus away from volume and toward what actually improves health. The approach rewards prevention, coordinated care, and long-term outcomes. When applied thoughtfully, value-based preventive care makes room for:
- Earlier, targeted interventions that reduce unnecessary utilization
- Integrated care teams addressing physical, mental, and social needs
- Tech-enabled workflows that close care gaps and reduce avoidable hospitalizations
- Proactive patient engagement that lifts outcomes without overloading clinicians
The article in Worth outlines how these models work—combining AI tools, remote monitoring, and collaborative care teams to act early and often. At VBC Transformation Partners, we know that success isn’t just about new tools or technology. It’s about redesigning systems and integrating tech that empower teams to work.
What Independent Practices Need Now
Independent physician groups feel this burden more acutely. Many don’t have the bandwidth to sift through compliance changes or the luxury to staff ten administrators per doctor—billing coordinators chasing prior authorizations, quality reporting specialists entering data into multiple portals, coding auditors reviewing charts line by line, or care coordinators duplicating work because systems don’t talk to each other. They need transformation that’s practical, phased, and tied to clear ROI.
At VBC Transformation Partners, we specialize in helping small to mid-sized groups turn value-based preventive care from concept to execution:
- Population health models that predict risk and reduce ER overuse
- Streamlined documentation workflows to cut time spent on paperwork
- Care team design that reduces administrative burnout and enables top-of-license practice
- Payor contract analysis that ensures alignment between care quality and financial outcomes
Our work doesn't add more layers to an already crowded system. It cuts through them so that providers can focus on care, not compliance.
The Cost of Delay Is Measured in Lives, Dollars, and Trust
When the system prioritizes paperwork over prevention, patients fall through the cracks. KFF reports that nearly 25% of Americans report being unable to access care because of insurance documentation or billing issues. Although the U.S. spends roughly $496 billion per year on billing and insurance-related administrative costs, the U.S. ranked last overall among 10 peer high‑income countries in health system performance—particularly scoring poorly in access, equity, and health outcomes, despite spending more per capita than any other nation (Commonwealth Fund, 2024).
These numbers aren’t just inefficiencies. They’re fractures in the foundation of our healthcare system.
Every time a check-up gets skipped due to red tape…
Every time a chronic condition is left unmanaged because of denied authorizations…
Every time a provider burns out after hours buried in documentation instead of delivering care…
—our system loses credibility. Patients lose trust. Health outcomes suffer.
These are not small gaps. They are structural warning signs. They are symptoms of a system designed for compliance rather than care, for throughput rather than prevention.
If we want a healthcare model that prioritizes human health over administrative performance, we must build it differently. Value-based preventive care isn’t a future aspiration; it’s the present imperative. Not just for improved outcomes, but for a system that earns back the trust of the people it was designed to serve.
Preventive care can work when it’s backed by the right structure. Let’s build a better system together.
Talk to VBC Transformation Partners. We are here to help you turn your clinical excellence into measurable outcomes—and market power.
