Telepsychiatry Optimizes Value-Based Care
Telepsychiatry is Critical to Value-Based Care Programs
(Consider These 5 Reasons)
Telepsychiatry and telehealth modalities rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic for obvious reasons. Patients needed access to behavioral health services despite lockdowns, closed offices, and risks of virus transmission. Connecting with providers “virtually” addressed these in a practical way that proved highly effective.
However, these telepsychiatry benefits already existed prior to the pandemic and continue today. The fact is telepsychiatry improves patient access, outcomes, and satisfaction while also optimizing efficiency and lowering costs. And it’s particularly helpful in augmenting value-based care programs with behavioral health support. Here’s why:
1) Access
Today’s value-based care priorities include addressing social determinants of health and increasing access to care–particularly among underserved urban and rural communities. Making care accessible is the first step toward improving patient outcomes. But it also promotes operational efficiency and lowers costs by reducing the number of missed appointments.
Some may question if the technology required to facilitate telepsychiatry consultations could isolate certain patient populations, but in reality transportation challenges affect far more folks. This is especially true in cities with inadequate public transportation and rural areas with patients living very far from clinics. Many of the people who most need behavioral healthcare are the same ones whose economic situation prevents them from owning cars.
On the other hand, smartphones with data plans and internet access are ubiquitous in 2025. In fact, government programs often subsidize the technology for those who cannot afford it, including seniors. The single best way to ensure all patients have access to behavioral health services is to provide a telepsychiatry option.
2) Outcomes
Most healthcare leaders agree the primary purpose of value-based care is to promote better patient outcomes. Telepsychiatry is proven to help achieve this goal for many reasons, including those addressed in this blog. But from a high-level perspective, the important thing to remember is mental health services must be included in any effective value-based care model. The question is if these services should be delivered traditionally, via tele-modality, or through a “hybrid” model.
Value-based care programs that don’t include behavioral health services will result in preventable hospitalizations and medical emergencies that are otherwise preventable, hurting patient outcomes, increasing costs, and lowering quality scores. And studies show patients with comorbidities and those facing social determinants of health are at greater need of mental health services. So, the very populations many value-based care programs serve are the same ones disproportionately confronting behavioral health diagnoses.
3) Patient Satisfaction Scores
This may surprise some, but studies suggest patients actually prefer tele-based behavioral healthcare to in-person consultation. While telemedicine has gained general popularity in recent years, it is particularly appreciated by those receiving mental health services. In fact, one COVID-era study showed over 70% of patients were satisfied with their telepsychiatry encounters!
Beyond the hard data, common sense also suggests tele-based behavioral healthcare would result in higher patient satisfaction when compared to traditional encounters. While receiving mental health services [fortunately] is no longer stigmatized as in years past, some patients still prefer to keep this aspect of their lives confidential. And meeting with a psychiatrist or therapist virtually from the comfort of one’s own home is a great way to maintain privacy.
4) Staffing Reliability & Continuity
One of telepsychiatry’s biggest benefits to organizations utilizing value-based care models is that it opens up the provider candidate pool significantly while still maintaining compliance and quality. This ultimately makes care delivery more reliable and affordable in areas with provider shortages due to supply-and-demand economics. But it further adds value by creating flexible staffing options that prove win-wins for both clinics and providers.
For example, an organization that only needs a part time psychiatrist might leverage a tele-provider for 20 hours per week. Perhaps this person isn’t interested in full-time work, is semi-retired, or is supplementing hours with another job. In this scenario, the healthcare organization gets a much needed psychiatrist resource that it normally wouldn’t be able to afford, while the provider gets the right “fit” in terms of schedule and flexibility.
5) Data-Driven Quality Improvement
Successful value-based care models live-and-breath “data.” Population health management, operational, and financial decisions cannot be made by guessing and must instead be supported by accurate, actionable data. Fortunately, telepsychiatry is an ideal care delivery method to gather this data and leverage it for optimized care.
There are tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), that help glean insights from in-person patient encounters. However, this is more easily and reliably achieved over video. Technology can integrate with video platforms to record and transcribe conversations. AI can even identify the use of keywords that might provide insights relevant to the patient as well as larger patient populations. Through use of various programming “automations,” “rules,” “forms,” and integrations, telepsychiatry and therapy encounters can passively aggregate and store vast amounts of valuable information.
Closing Thoughts
In 2025, telepsychiatry is a well-proven care delivery model evidenced by data from numerous studies that include patient outcomes metrics and satisfaction scores. And it’s clear successful value-based care programs need behavioral health support to achieve their goals. Orbit Health is one of America’s most trusted telepsychiatry and tele-therapy companies and is the perfect partner to organizations seeking flexible solutions.
Contact us today to learn how we can seamlessly integrate telespsychiatry into your value-based care program!
