What is Value Based Outdoor HealthCare?
Value-Based Outdoor HealthCare (VBOHC) is an emerging concept that combines principles from value-based healthcare with nature-based or outdoor therapeutic interventions. Let’s break it down carefully:
1. Core Concept
Value-Based Healthcare (VBHC): A healthcare model that emphasizes outcomes that matter to patients relative to the cost of achieving them. Instead of paying for services or volume, payment is linked to health improvements, quality of life, and patient-centered results.
Outdoor HealthCare / Nature-Based Interventions: Uses natural environments (parks, forests, blue spaces like lakes or rivers) to promote physical, mental, and social health. Examples include forest bathing, guided walks, gardening therapy, and wilderness therapy.
Value-Based Outdoor HealthCare combines these: it’s the delivery of evidence-informed, outdoor or nature-based health interventions, with an explicit focus on maximizing meaningful health outcomes efficiently and equitably.
2. Key Principles
Patient-Centered Outcomes:
Measure benefits meaningful to individuals (e.g., reduced anxiety, improved mobility, enhanced social engagement, lowered inflammation).
Evidence-Informed Nature Interventions:
Activities are chosen based on scientific evidence showing their impact on physical and mental health.
Cost-Effectiveness and Sustainability:
Programs aim to reduce long-term healthcare costs by preventing chronic diseases or improving management, rather than relying solely on medication or hospital-based care.
Equity and Accessibility:
Ensures all populations, including underserved communities, can access therapeutic outdoor interventions.
Integration with Health Systems:
Nature-based interventions are embedded into healthcare plans, primary care, or public health strategies, with measurable outcomes and accountability.
3. Potential Applications
Mental Health: Forest therapy for depression and anxiety, mindfulness in nature, stress reduction programs.
Chronic Disease Management: Outdoor exercise programs for diabetes, hypertension, or cardiovascular disease.
Rehabilitation & Recovery: Nature-integrated physical therapy or post-surgical recovery programs.
Preventive Health: Community gardens, walking trails, and blue space engagement to promote healthy lifestyles.
4. Why “Value-Based” Matters
Traditional healthcare often rewards volume (number of procedures/tests) rather than outcomes. VBOHC shifts focus to:
Effectiveness: Does the outdoor intervention improve health metrics?
Patient satisfaction: Do participants feel better, more engaged, or empowered?
Economic impact: Are interventions reducing hospital visits, medication use, or other high-cost care?
In essence, Value-Based Outdoor HealthCare is about prescribing nature, measuring real-world outcomes, and ensuring that care is both effective and sustainable.
