MResult Healthcare Insights

As a follow up to last week’s post on bundled payments, here is a link to an interesting policy paper from the National Institute for Health Care Reform that discusses the ins and outs of a bundled payment plan based on Episodes of Care. Many issues to address, including

• What should constitute an episode of care?
• Striking the right balance between financial incentives and risks
• Adjusting payments based on case mix and quality
• Strategies for phased implementation

As mentioned before, bundling brings both pros and cons. But if post care facilities are going to be compensated based on pre-defined services tied to specific diagnosis, they’ll need to be sure they have in place systems to ensure that those diagnosis are correct.

Episode-Based Payments: Charting a Course for Health Care Payment Reform