In medicine, Value Based Care (“VBC”) is a payment model that aims to take a renewed and holistic approach to the antiquated means of billing by procedure code. Though ethics guidelines require otherwise, the shear nature of the “old way” of billing encourages healthcare providers to bill as many procedure codes as possible to maximize revenue. In this alternative approach to care, VBC incentivizes providers based upon positive patient health outcomes; in other words, it focuses on the quality of treatment as opposed to quantity. In addition, a patient’s providers may take a holistic approach to treatment to help promote those better outcomes. Rather than the patient seeing his or her primary care, then any subsequent specialists (all of whom are billing the third-party payer and/or patient separately), there is an incentive for the practitioners to engage in a robust dialogue and, in some instances, a single – and thus, more efficient – billing method is applied. Much like any change, there is hesitancy by many major healthcare institutions to implement such a model, as it would require significant operational adjustments. The goal however remains a worthy endeavor: a healthier population, well-paid providers, and less systematic waste.
What relevance does this approach have to the legal world might you ask? The answer is quite a bit! The emergence of Value Based Pricing (“VBP”) in law is not a novel concept, but to this point, it has for the most part remained just that…conceptual. The legal industry is accustomed to hourly billing, and just like medicine, by its very nature it encourages inefficiency. The legal practitioner is incentivized to bill every phone call, email, and text, not to mention draw out the hours of negotiation and drafting. The result? Frustrated clients who receive excessive and surprise bills upon completion of a matter. Working on a VBP/flat-fee basis results in increased efficiency, as the attorneys don’t have the luxury of billing unnecessary hours of work.
At Marti Law Group, we definitively believe there is a better way to legal billing. Our implementation of Value Based Pricing is in line with the values to which we have subscribed since day one. We aim for transparency in all that we do. Seldom do we subscribe to an hourly billing model, unless it is specifically requested by the client. Further, we aim to be your legal partner. Let us pause to make that distinction from merely being your attorney. Your attorney answers when called (sometimes), researches your issues, bills you for the time, and moves on with his or her busy day. Your legal partner thinks through strategy and applies practical experience to help you consider the long-term impact of both legal and business decisions made. See the distinction?
If you or your organization are in need of a true legal partner in any phase of business, our attorneys are here to help you with a Value Based Pricing model. Please reach out to us at (860) 552-7770 or info@martilawgroup.com!