Critics malign traditional fee-for-service (FFS) payment since it rewards only the quantity of care and intervention by individual clinicians and does not incentivize coordination or cost control. Some emerging health care models attempt to improve the delivery of perioperative care by coordinating care across specialty lines. Other models focus on cost control, either by incentivizing performance or by sharing risk among physicians, hospitals and payers. In this article, we summarize the key elements in five current models for cost-effective and coordinated delivery of care. These models, or selected components of them, may serve as important tools in the implementation of the Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH) model of care.
“Bundled payment” refers to the concept of paying a fixed dollar amount to cover the average cost of a bundle of services or an episode of care. The fixed price encourages hospitals and physicians to standardize equipment and practices and hold down...
