A Virtual Channel for Value

Telemedicine and telehealth, with their emphasis on taking costs out of the system and their potential to maximize outcomes for individual patients and key populations, can be important catalysts for the change to value-based healthcare.

This paper explores telemedicine’s contribution to payment reform by examining its relationship to the various imperatives driving the transition from fee-for-service (FFS) to value-based purchasing (VBP):

• Growing consumerism

• The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) emphasis on improving outcomes

• The need for better population health management

• Continuity of care.