Bundled Payments Might Cut Hospital Costs Without Reducing Quality of Care
Source:
The Washington Post (essay by Manoj Jain)
- Manoj Jain, an infectious disease specialist, writes about the effects of bundling payments to doctors—stating that this approach can be used to reduce costs without reducing quality of care.
- Jain says that our health care system is flawed as doctors are incented to see more patients under the fee-for-service system where patients, insurers and Medicare pay separately for each procedure. He believes this approach is an important factor for rapidly growing health care costs and can be fixed by bundling payments.
- Jain and health policy experts think highly of this approach, where doctors and hospitals would receive one payment for a given treatment and would develop a contract to stipulate fees received for procedures. Jain points to the success of pilot programs as evidence for the need to use this approach.
- Although bundled payments would limit a doctor’s income and independence, it is important to focus our health care system on our patients.
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