Medicare ’ s bundled ortho payments yield modest savings

This study indicates that with the right financial incentive, hospitals can save money without compromising quality by sending more patients home rather than to a nursing facility.” Bundled payments are an alternative payment strategy that health plans, Medicare, and Medicaid are experimenting with to reduce expenses. Unlike traditional fee-for-service payments, bundled payments provide a single, fixed payment for a procedure and follow-up care rather than individually paying all parties separately. In January 2016, CMS required all hospitals in 67 geographic areas to participate in the five-year “Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement” (CJR) program aimed at lowering healthcare costs and improving outcomes. The program bundles payments for hip and knee replacements from hospital admission to 90 days after discharge. Under the model, hospitals in the selected cities received bonuses or penalties depending on how much they spent on follow-up care 90 days after joint-replacement patients were discharged. The program is the largest randomized policy experiment in Medicare to date of a new payment model. To determine if the bundled payment model was effective at reducing costs and complications, the Harvard researchers analyzed data from the first two years of the program (2016-2017). They compared costs associated with 280,161 joint replacement procedures in 803 hospitals that were required to participate in the bundled payment program with 377,278 procedures in 962...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Blog Healthcare Reform Hospital Care Medicare News Well Orthopedics Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Harvard Medical School Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health New England Journal of Medicine Source Type: news