The Value-Based Healthcare Delivery Course changed the way I think about how we care for patients.

Jen Bakkensen, MD

Resident in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Massachusetts General/Brigham and Women’s Hospital

PGY-4

01/21/2020

Jennifer B. Bakkensen, MD

For someone who attended 4 years of medical school and was about to complete 4 years of post-graduate training, I knew shockingly little about the driving factors behind the global rise in healthcare costs, or what could be done to combat the trend. The Value-Based Healthcare Delivery Course changed that, and challenged me to consider how we might fundamentally change the way we take care of patients to improve quality and reduce costs. 

The course provided a framework with which to quantify costs in patient care and provided key examples of how care could be restructured to drive down those costs without compromising patient outcomes. I returned to be clinical work with an eye towards how things might be improved, and a desire to be part of that change throughout my career. While I still have years of clinical training ahead, I can see myself applying this framework in my future career, whether as head of an academic division or partner in private practice. I would highly recommend this course to any trainee interested in healthcare delivery research or healthcare policy, and to anyone interested in providing the very best patient care we can provide.