Value-based care (VBC) is one of the most frequently used phrases in today’s healthcare environment. And yet, for all its popularity, many still ask the foundational question: What is value-based care in healthcare?
Value-based care is a healthcare payment model that rewards providers for patient outcomes rather than volume of services.
On paper, the value-based care model is straightforward: instead of paying providers for the number of services they perform, healthcare organizations are paid based on the outcomes they help patients achieve. That means fewer ER visits, better management of chronic conditions, and a stronger focus on prevention rather than reaction.
But in practice? Value-based care is often buried under buzzwords and complex initiatives that distract from what truly works.
This blog breaks down why the fundamentals of care—not futuristic algorithms—are the real drivers of success in value-based care. If you’re just beginning to explore how to transition from fee-for-service models and transition to something more sustainable, this is where your understanding should begin.
Attend any major healthcare conference and you’re likely to hear about AI-driven population health tools, predictive analytics, machine learning, and digital transformation. While these technologies may hold potential, they rarely solve healthcare’s core challenges on their own.
As Jeremy Floyd, Chief Growth Officer at Tellihealth, explained during a recent webinar:
“You might hear about AI or analytics or risk stratification. There's lots of buzzwords… but a lot of implementations are not fully baked. You’re not seeing a lot of it done at scale with real results.”
The problem isn’t the technology itself. It’s the over-reliance on digital solutions before providers have nailed down the essentials, like making sure every chronic patient is seen on a regular schedule and that someone is following up on their care plan.
No platform can replace that human connection. And no predictive engine can compensate for a missed wellness visit or a medication error that wasn’t caught because no one asked the patient.
When asked how they consistently earn shared savings, leaders from top-performing Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) don’t cite cutting-edge tech. Instead, they lean into what might seem like boring fundamentals:
These simple, reliable touchpoints drive the outcomes that matter. Why?
In short, the value-based care model works best when you stop chasing complexity and focus on contact, consistency, and connection.
Jeremy compared the situation to home maintenance:
“You don’t hire an interior designer if your roof is leaking and your plumbing’s shot.”
The same applies in healthcare. Predictive dashboards and sophisticated workflows are great, but not if your care team isn’t following up on medication lists or if patients can’t get in for a visit.
What does “blocking and tackling” look like in modern value-based care?
These aren’t side tasks. They are the real work. And when done well, they create the infrastructure that more advanced systems can build on top of.
What is value-based care without real-time insights from your patients? Some of the biggest improvements in outcomes come from things you can’t find in a claims report or electronic health record. That’s why regular, human-led interaction is so essential.
One nurse care manager uncovered that a patient was crushing a time-release medication—something that rendered it ineffective and potentially dangerous. These small clarifications prevent major clinical events, and no algorithm would have caught it.
Patients are often more comfortable revealing personal struggles—like food insecurity or loneliness—to nurses than to physicians. These issues directly impact outcomes and cost, but require trusted relationships to surface.
Some patients simply can’t get to appointments. Whether it’s a rural address, a mobility issue, or a lack of transportation, this creates a gap in care that affects everything. Value-based models that incorporate nurse outreach and phone-based touchpoints can close that gap.
Read Chronic Care Management: The Ultimate Guide
You may be thinking: if it’s so simple, why isn’t everyone doing it? Because simple doesn’t mean easy. The operational burden of executing even the basics across hundreds or thousands of patients can be massive.
Key barriers to scaling VBC include:
Even so, programs that double down on relationship-based care—like Tellihealth’s approach to longitudinal management—are seeing results. By integrating proactive outreach into clinical workflows and leveraging teams that operate within the EMR, these organizations are delivering better care and improving margins.
If you’re asking, “What is value-based care?”—the answer may be less revolutionary than you think.
It’s not a magic platform or a black-box algorithm. It’s about:
This is where every successful value-based care model starts. And it’s the reason fundamentals like quarterly visits, wellness checks, and proactive follow-ups aren’t just busywork. They’re the very foundation of sustainable, scalable healthcare.
Book a 1:1 Meeting to learn how Tellihealth’s value-based care solution can work for you.
Value-based care is a way of delivering healthcare that focuses on what matters most to the patient. Instead of just treating illnesses as they come up, doctors and healthcare providers work together to manage a person’s overall health and help them reach their personal health goals. This kind of care emphasizes quality, coordination, and the patient’s experience.
By focusing on prevention and communication, value-based care can help people stay healthier and avoid unnecessary and costly hospital visits.
Value-based care in healthcare is an approach that puts the patient’s overall well-being and personal health goals at the center. Instead of being paid based on how many tests or procedures are done, doctors and healthcare providers are rewarded for how well they care for patients—focusing on quality, coordination, and long-term results.
The value-based care model is a way of organizing healthcare that rewards doctors and providers for keeping patients healthy, rather than for the number of visits, tests, or procedures they perform. It focuses on quality over quantity, encouraging providers to work as a team to manage a patient’s overall health and help them reach their personal goals. In this model, care is more coordinated, patient-centered, and focused on preventing problems before they become serious.
Value-based care is important because it focuses on helping people stay healthy, not just treating them when they get sick. By rewarding doctors and healthcare providers for delivering high-quality, coordinated care, it improves the patient experience and often leads to better health outcomes. It also helps reduce unnecessary hospital visits and medical costs by emphasizing prevention and early intervention.
While value-based care focuses on quality, fee-for-service focuses on quantity. In fee-for-service, providers get paid for each test, visit, or procedure. In value-based care, they are paid for helping patients stay healthy. Value-based care rewards good outcomes. Fee-for-service rewards doing more. Value-based care encourages teamwork and prevention. Fee-for-service often leads to repeated visits and fragmented care.
The use of value-based care accelerated because of the need to improve patient outcomes while controlling rising healthcare costs. As more people developed chronic conditions and the healthcare system became more expensive, it became clear that focusing only on treating illness wasn’t enough.
Medicare and other programs began promoting value-based care to encourage better coordination, prevention, and long-term health. This shift helped providers move away from the old model of getting paid for doing more, and toward a system that rewards helping patients live healthier lives.
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