Value-Based Care Takeover: 5 Steps How to Position Your Agency for Partnership Deals (Easy Guide for Hospice Owners)

Value-based care is rapidly becoming the dominant reimbursement model in healthcare, fundamentally changing how hospice agencies operate and get paid. This guide provides hospice owners with five actionable steps to position their agencies for successful partnership deals in the value-based care landscape.

The shift from fee-for-service to value-based care represents more than just a payment model change. It's a complete transformation of how healthcare providers deliver services, measure success, and build relationships with payers and partners. For hospice agencies, this transition presents both significant opportunities and complex challenges that require strategic positioning and operational excellence.

Step 1: Develop a Partnership-First Mindset

The foundation of successful value-based care positioning starts with fundamentally changing how you view payer relationships. Instead of treating payers as adversaries in negotiations, successful hospice agencies are building genuine partnerships based on shared goals and mutual accountability.

This partnership mindset requires constant communication with payers to maintain alignment, transparency, and enable real-time course correction when performance metrics fall short of targets. Leading hospice organizations report that viewing payers as partners rather than transactional relationships dramatically improves contract negotiations and long-term sustainability.

The key is understanding what payers truly value beyond basic readmission data. Medicare Advantage plans and managed care organizations increasingly prioritize quality outcomes, cost efficiency, and patient satisfaction scores. They want partners who can demonstrate measurable impact on total cost of care while improving patient experiences.

Building strong partnerships also means developing the infrastructure to support collaborative decision-making. This includes establishing regular performance review meetings, creating shared dashboards for key metrics, and implementing feedback loops that allow both parties to adjust strategies based on real-world results.

Step 2: Align Clinical Operations with Value-Based Metrics

Traditional hospice care focused primarily on providing compassionate end-of-life services, but value-based models require demonstrable outcomes that align with specific quality measures. The most successful hospice agencies are restructuring their clinical operations around metrics that matter to both patients and payers.

Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) scores have become a critical benchmark for hospice quality. These patient and family satisfaction surveys directly impact value-based contracts and Medicare reimbursement rates. Agencies must implement systematic approaches to improving CAHPS performance through better communication, pain management, and family support services.

Another crucial metric is hospice visits in the last days of life. This measure evaluates whether agencies provide appropriate support during patients' final moments, reflecting both quality of care and efficient resource utilization. High-performing agencies develop protocols ensuring consistent bedside presence and family support during this critical period.

The foundation of value-based hospice care involves aligning patient care with their actual goals and preferences while avoiding unnecessary interventions. This requires clinical teams to conduct earlier, more comprehensive conversations about end-of-life preferences and care objectives. When care delivery matches patient goals, agencies achieve better outcomes while reducing costs.

Successful agencies also invest in staff training focused on value-based care principles. This includes educating clinical teams about quality metrics, teaching patient-centered communication techniques, and developing protocols for care coordination with other providers in the patient's care network.

Step 3: Build Robust Data Infrastructure and Analytics Capabilities

Value-based care contracts require sophisticated data collection, analysis, and reporting capabilities that many hospice agencies lack. Payers making value-based arrangements demand meaningful data, clinical innovation, and organizational capability to demonstrate measurable results and return on investment.

Your data infrastructure should support real-time tracking of key performance indicators including length of stay, patient satisfaction scores, emergency room visits, and total cost of care. This requires investing in technology platforms that integrate with electronic health records, billing systems, and quality reporting tools.

The most successful hospice agencies develop predictive analytics capabilities that help identify high-risk patients early and intervene before costly complications arise. This might include algorithms that flag patients at risk for emergency department visits or hospitalization, enabling proactive care management.

Transparency with payers represents another critical component of data strategy. Value-based contracts typically include regular performance reporting requirements and shared risk arrangements. Agencies need systems that generate accurate, timely reports demonstrating progress toward quality and cost targets.

Clinical innovation supported by data analysis can differentiate your agency in partnership negotiations. This might include developing specialized palliative care protocols, implementing telehealth monitoring systems, or creating wraparound services like grief counseling and caregiver support programs that improve outcomes while reducing costs.

Step 4: Create Strategic Care Network Partnerships

Payers increasingly reward integrated care networks that reduce fragmentation and improve coordination across the healthcare continuum. Successful hospice agencies are forming strategic alliances with other providers to create comprehensive care solutions that appeal to value-based purchasers.

Consider joining established programs like accountable care organizations (ACOs), the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), or PACE (Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) networks. These structures demonstrate organizational commitment to value-based models and provide proven frameworks for successful partnerships.

Building relationships with primary care physicians, specialty practices, and hospital systems creates referral networks that support value-based objectives. When hospice agencies can demonstrate strong relationships with referring providers, payers view them as integral parts of coordinated care delivery rather than isolated service providers.

The collaboration extends beyond traditional healthcare boundaries. Leading hospice organizations develop partnerships with community organizations, faith-based groups, and social services agencies that address social determinants of health affecting their patient populations.

Medicare Advantage plans particularly value hospice partners who can demonstrate capability to manage complex, high-risk populations across multiple care settings. This requires developing care coordination protocols that ensure seamless transitions between home, hospital, and facility-based care when appropriate.

Step 5: Develop a Formal Value-Based Partnership Strategy

Creating a documented three-year strategic plan with explicit focus on value-based payers and risk-based arrangements demonstrates organizational commitment and provides a clear roadmap for partnership development. Leading hospice organizations like Empath Health have successfully implemented comprehensive value-based strategies that guide their partnership decisions.

Your strategic plan should identify target payers including Medicare Advantage plans and managed Medicaid organizations that align with your service capabilities and patient population demographics. Each potential partner requires customized approaches based on their specific value propositions and quality priorities.

Standardizing your contracting approach helps establish frameworks focused on transparency, stability, and measurable return on investment. Document and clearly communicate your quality performance capabilities, technology infrastructure, clinical team expertise, care coordination processes, and patient engagement strategies.

The most successful hospice agencies develop formal partnership pipelines that track potential opportunities from initial contact through contract negotiation and implementation. This systematic approach ensures consistent messaging and helps identify the most promising partnership opportunities.

Consider leveraging professional expertise in healthcare partnership consultation to navigate complex contract negotiations and partnership structures. The value-based care landscape includes numerous contract variations, risk-sharing arrangements, and performance metrics that require specialized knowledge to evaluate effectively.

Position Your Agency for Value-Based Success

The transition to value-based care in hospice represents both challenge and opportunity. Agencies that proactively position themselves as valuable partners rather than service vendors will thrive in this new environment. Success requires operational excellence, data-driven decision making, and genuine commitment to improving patient outcomes while managing costs effectively.

The hospice agencies that succeed in value-based partnerships will be those that embrace transparency, invest in quality improvement, and build genuine collaborative relationships with payers and other providers. This transformation takes time, but the agencies that begin this journey today will be positioned for sustainable success in tomorrow's healthcare landscape.

For hospice owners considering strategic transitions or looking to optimize their positioning for value-based partnerships, understanding succession planning as a strategic advantage can provide additional insights into maximizing agency value in this evolving marketplace.

Resources:

1. https://www.medicaleconomics.com/view/it-s-time-to-bring-value-based-care-principles-to-hospice

2. https://www.providerservices.iehp.org/content/dam/provider-services-rd/en/documents/providers/p4p--prop-56--gemt/hospice-value-based-program/20241107%20-%202025%20Hospice%20Value-Based%20Incentive%20Program%20Technical%20Guide.pdf

3. https://hospicenews.com/2025/11/14/empath-health-leans-into-value-based-care/

4. https://homehealthcarenews.com/2025/11/home-based-care-providers-go-beyond-chasing-contracts-to-build-value-based-care-arrangements/

5. https://www.cms.gov/priorities/innovation/innovation-models/vbid/vbid-hospice-announcement

6. https://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/content/dam/UHG/PDF/2025/2025-10-value-based-care.pdf

7. https://www.capc.org/blog/medicare-adds-new-features-to-the-continuation-of-the-value-based-insurance-design-model/

8. https://www.mertztaggart.com/post/q3-2025-home-based-care-m-a-report

9. https://www.nphihealth.org/nphi-ceo-tom-koutsoumpas-modernize-hospice-benefit-for-value-based-future-originally-published-by-hospice-news/