Read the report
Watch the event (video forthcoming)
Washington, D.C. — Hospital episode bundling under the Affordable Care Act can potentially help improve the quality of health care and reduce its costs, according to a report released today from the Center for American Progress titled “‘Bundling’ Payment for Episodes of Hospital Care.” The Affordable Care Act authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a pilot project to bundle Medicare payments around “episodes” of hospital care—paying collectively for the services that an individual receives during and after hospitalization rather than paying separately for each service delivered by each health care provider at the hospital.
According to the report’s authors, bundling payments around hospitalization can potentially improve patient care by increasing coordination and reducing unnecessary services as well as reducing complications, errors, and hospital readmissions. The report offers guidance on key choices in designing a pilot program to most effectively explore episode bundling. The recommendations made in the report include:
- Encourage the broadest possible provider participation in nationally scalable payment methods.
- Target the pilot program to diagnoses with the greatest potential to improve both quality and efficiency.
- Design payment methods to promote collaboration among providers, attract participants, and assure quality.
- Set initial payment levels to reflect the current costs of care, to attract participants.
Read the report
Watch the event (video forthcoming)
To speak with CAP experts about this issue, please contact Raúl Arce-Contreras at [email protected] or 202.478.5318.
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