The Podcast by KevinMD Overcoming the economic barriers of fee-for-service medicine
Jan 22, 2026
In this engaging conversation, Sarah Matt, a surgeon turned health tech strategist, dives into fee-for-service reform and the urgent need for a value-based healthcare system. She critiques the outdated payment models that prioritize volume over quality. Sarah shares practical strategies for leveraging remote patient monitoring to improve health outcomes and discusses how clinicians can navigate billing realities. With compelling examples, she highlights the transformative potential of telemedicine and the technological infrastructure challenges that remain.
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Activity Over Outcomes Limits Innovation
- Fee-for-service metrics reward activity, not patient outcomes, and limit digital innovation.
- Collecting outcome data lets clinicians build business cases to shift payment models.
Use Existing Codes To Fund Innovation
- Hack existing billing codes like RPM and telemedicine to capture revenue now.
- Simultaneously collect data to negotiate shared-savings or value contracts later.
Delegate RPM Work To Staff
- Delegate RPM tasks to staff like case coordinators to maximize billing and scalability.
- Involve practice managers and billing teams to avoid leaving revenue on the table.
