Rand study: Bundled payments one of best ways to ‘bend the curve’

A study by the Rand Corporation published last month on the Web site for the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that one of the best ways to “bend the curve” on healthcare spending is through the use of bundled payments (Source: “Bundling payments may make biggest dent in health care spending,” American Medical News,  Dec. 1, 2009).

"Fee-for-service payments, today's dominant mode, encourage higher volume rather than better value," Rand's Peter Hussey and colleagues wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine article.

The study, titled “Controlling U.S. Health Care Spending — Separating Promising from Unpromising Approaches,”concluded that bundled payments could save even more than the $1 billion annual savings estimated by the Congressional Budget Office.

Payment reform was one of the four core collaborative transformational strategies identified in the Ohio Health Quality Improvement Plan (opdf, 45 pages) that was released earlier this year after Ohio participated in the Commonwealth Fund/AcademyHealth State Quality Improvement Institute. Payment reform is also a primary area of concentration for the state Healthcare Coverage and Quality Council.