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How does value-based care differ from traditional fee-for-service payment?

HealthcarePolicy & Ethics

Drawn from Lutz Finger's Forbes column, LinkedIn writing, and Cornell teaching. Sources are cited inline so you can read the originals.

Payment tied to outcomes, not just services rendered.

Value-based care shifts risk to providers by changing how they’re paid. Since 2008, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has been moving away from fee-for-service, where providers are paid for services rendered. Instead, under value-based care, CMS only pays if health outcomes actually improve. Today all of Medicare and most of Medicaid are expected to adopt a VBC model by 2030. This approach aims to focus on keeping people healthy rather than just treating sickness.

Changing Healthcare - A Platform Approach Using Data & AI · Forbes


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