Image via WikipediaBy Emily Berry, amednews staff
More than a year after a special commission recommended that all Massachusetts insurers leave behind the fee-for-service health care payment model, state officials are pressing for legislative action as soon as January 2011. Physicians with the state medical society are again warning against ushering in change too quickly.
At a Sept. 21 meeting on national health reform, the state's secretary for health and human resources, JudyAnn Bigby, MD, said she expects legislation to be drafted and introduced as early as January that would shift the state to a global payment system. Such a system would pay physicians a flat montly fee per patient, adjusted for each patient's health status and other factors.Proponents say this would improve health and hold down costs because it would encourage doctors and patients to focus on overall health and move away from a fee-for-service system, which Gov. Deval Patrick's office described as encouraging the "overuse and misuse of services."
Full Article
No comments:
Post a Comment