A study by the nonprofit RAND Corporation recently found the practice of bundling payments to healthcare providers has been difficult to implement, based on examination of a three-year effort to test the approach to healthcare financing.
Intended to promote quality care and reduce redundancy, bundled payments compensate doctors, hospitals and other health providers through a single fee for treatment of a chronic disease or execution of a procedure.
"There is a tremendous amount of interest in this type of payment reform, but we found that transferring it into practice is extremely difficult," said researcher and lead author of the study Peter Hussey. He indicated the strategy is worth pursuing and there were signs of progress, despite the fact that no payment contracts or actual bundled payments were made during the three-year period in test communities.
Both technical and cultural problems are reported to have stalled the transition, including convincing providers that bundled payments will not lower care standards and determining which health conditions should be dealt with through bundled payments.
If the difficulties can be resolved and the strategy implemented, it may mean lower healthcare costs for many. The rising onset of chronic conditions is a major factor in growing personal and business healthcare costs, so a measure which reduces the expense of treating them could make employee benefits more affordable for workers and employers alike.
