Payers should take a flexible approach to payment reform, given the evolving but fragmented nature of the U.S. healthcare system, according to a key chapter of a new book addressing partnerships between physicians and hospitals. “…Payers might offer a blended fee-for-service and care management fee payment model for practices that are able to meet the requirements of the medical home model, a global DRG case rate model that includes hospital and postacute care for…systems that can accept responsibility for patients across the continuum of care during and following an inpatient stay, and a global payment per enrollee for more organized systems,” write the authors.
The chapter, written by Stuart Guterman, Assistant Vice President of The Commonwealth Fund and Anthony Shih, MD, MPH, Vice President of IPRO, offers a brief history of recent payment methodologies, followed by analysis of emerging alternatives. It is included in Partners in Health: How Physicians and Hospitals can be Accountable Together, edited by Francis J. Crosson and Laura A. Tollen, Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy, published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. To obtain a copy of the book, visit www.josseybass.com