4 Critical Ways eConsults Advance Value-Based Care

Value-based care delivers better patient outcomes and quality of care. In comparison with traditional fee-for-service models that prioritize volume of services, value-based care rewards practitioners for helping patients become and stay healthy. Personalized, value-based medicine starts with timely, well-coordinated care across providers, a key deliverable of eConsults. This article explores four key ways eConsults improve the speed of delivery and overall patient outcomes of value based care.

1. Enhancing Care Accessibility 

eConsults improve healthcare accessibility by eliminating traditional barriers to specialty care. In a value-based care model, timely access to expert guidance is crucial for:

• Reducing unnecessary specialist visits
• Providing rapid clinical guidance for complex cases
• Minimizing patient wait times and travel costs
• Offering a patient-centered approach to care

By allowing primary care providers to quickly obtain specialist insights, eConsults ensure that patients receive targeted, appropriate care precisely when they need it. This approach streamlines the speed and efficiency of care and directly supports value-based care’s goal of delivering the right support at the right time.

Proven impact of RubiconMD eConsults: 

• Up to 70% of eConsults avoid an in-person specialist visit or service
• Median eConsult response time of 3.5 hours, compared to traditional referral wait time of 25 days

2. Improving Quality in Primary Care

Primary care providers empowered with access to eConsults are able to deliver higher quality care, powered by insights from top specialists around the US.  RubiconMD specialists ensure that the patient’s care plan is following current guidelines while taking into account their current medication regimen, comorbidities, and the patient’s SDOH.  Virtual specialists act as a partner to the PCP to provide quality assurance on the patient care plan.

Proven impact of RubiconMD eConsults: 

• 90% of eConsults improve patient care plans

3. Optimizing Healthcare Resource Utilization

Value-based care requires careful use of healthcare resources. eConsults optimize resources by filtering cases for primary care management, ensuring specialist appointments for complex patients, and reducing unnecessary diagnostic testing and duplicate services. Learn more about how primary care clinicians use eConsults for imaging or lab results interpretation.

By providing targeted, efficient consultations, eConsults help healthcare systems allocate their most valuable resources—specialist time and expertise—more effectively. Resource optimization includes reduced specialist clinic wait times, decreased unnecessary diagnostic procedures, more efficient use of healthcare infrastructure, and improved patient-to-specialist matching. 

Proven impact of RubiconMD eConsults:

• Total cost of care reduction of up to $500 per patient through savings on medical and transportation costs.

4. Improving Continuous Care Coordination

Seamless care coordination is a cornerstone of value-based healthcare. eConsults create a robust communication framework that:

• Generates a documented trail of specialist recommendations
• Enhances communication between primary and specialist care providers
• Supports comprehensive, holistic patient care management
• Reduces potential medical errors through clear documentation

The asynchronous nature of eConsults allows for detailed, thoughtful specialist input that becomes part of the patient’s permanent medical record. This approach supports a more collaborative, transparent healthcare ecosystem where all providers have access to comprehensive patient information. Coordination benefits include improved communication between providers, increased continuity of patient care, decreased risk of medical errors, and more thorough health management.

Conclusion

eConsults are not just a technological innovation—they represent a strategic approach to implementing value-based care principles. By improving accessibility, increasing quality, optimizing resources, and enhancing care coordination, virtual specialty consultations can reshape primary care delivery.

As healthcare systems continue to seek ways to deliver high-quality, cost-effective care, eConsults will play an increasingly critical role. They embody the core promise of value-based care: delivering the right care, to the right patient, at the right time.