Medicare took its broadest step yet in moving away from its traditional hospital payment method, finalizing a plan to alter reimbursements based on the quality of care hospitals provide and patients’ satisfaction during their stays.
The initiative is the beginning of a transition from paying hospitals on the basis of the amount of care they provide. Many health care researchers believe this fee-for-service system has encouraged unnecessary care, driving up costs and giving hospitals no incentive to economize.
Medicare’s new “value-based purchasing” program was mandated in last year’s health care law. It has sparked less discussion than has another experiment to change Medicare’s payment system through accountable care organizations, where a select group of doctors and hospitals get bonuses if they find ways to save money.
But this latest payment change affects twenty times more hospitals than would ACOs. More than 3,000 acute care hospitals will have their payments adjusted starting in October 2012.Continue reading…