Barely a day has gone by recently, that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), or the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have not been in the news.

In the broadest strokes, the Accountable Care movement attempts to shift the health payment system from a pay-for-service (fee based) system, to a pay-for-performance (outcomes based) system. Of course, for hospitals that want to accept Medicare and Medicaid, these reforms are mandated. But the overall approach affects almost all practices, regardless of status or whether you are an ACO.

Part of the reason that these policies aren't going anywhere is that early data shows they're working. In 2012, ACOs established in the Medicare's Shared Savings Program generated nearly $400 million in savings, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said in a statement released last week. 

Despite the laws, it's not always clear how to use telemedicine to improve outcomes in a pay-for-performance system. Interestingly, telemedicine and telehealth has been identified as a key tool in compliance with Accountable Care. It is even written into CMS' final rule for the Medicare Shared Savings Program: accountable care organizations must "define processes to promote evidence-based medicine and patient engagement, report on quality and cost measures, and coordinate care, such as through the use of telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and other such enabling technologies." 

So here are 7 ways telemedicine can help you comply with Accountable Care: 

1. Telemedicine makes care coordination possible and effective. Just changing incentives is not enough to improve outcomes. As the New England Journal of Medicine reports, "Merely aligning financial incentives will not improve quality and reduce costs for episodes of care... True coordination of care is required to ensure the best possible outcomes." Telemedicine makes this kind of care coordination possible and effective, particularly in a hybrid store-and-forward context that adapts to provider parameters.
2. Telemedicine makes transportation less necessary. Whether home monitoring or distance consults, telemedicine can save costs of unnecessary visits and lengthy transportation. When payment is linked to outcomes, even saving a patient or provider a single trip can make a big difference over an organization.
3. Telemedicine leverages provider time. In an age of provider shortages, telemedicine can make each provider's minutes count as much as possible. Through consults, collaboration, and even remote patient visits, provider time is leveraged. 
4. Telemedicine can decrease readmissions. Because telemedicine can help the right at-home care to happen, clarify which provider is responsible, and make sure patients follow through, telemedicine has been shown to have a strong effect on decreasing readmissions.
5. Telemedicine can drop length of stay. Data shows that care coordination, especially the kind of collaboration supported by telemedicine, is one of the strongest ways to drop length of stay. And length of stay is a key outcome in Accountable Care.
6. Telemedicine improves access to care. Telemedicine can improve access for the underserved in rural, urban, or Veteran populations. Especially as provider shortages worsen in different parts of the country, and for different specialities, this kind of access to care is proving crucial in keeping costs down and meeting patient needs.
7. Telemedicine supports good patient care, regardless of political climate and payment changes. Truth be told, many of our colleagues have been using telemedicine to improve the ways they care for patients -- regardless of whether it's rewarded by the current political context. We think that's good practice, in every election cycle.

Click here for our free guide on the pros, cons, and ROI of telemedicine options:

Image courtesy of chelseastirlen on flickr.com, used under Creative Commons rights.