Reed Abelson reports in Saturday’s New York Times that hospitals which develop programs to decrease hospital readmissions financially penalized by Medicare (and most other payers). This is not “new” news – and there has been substantial reporting on this for some time, including previous writing in the Times . See my post from March referencing a number of other examples. This is a story worth continuing to cover – and one of the reasons why it is challenging to lower the cost of health care with a predominately fee for service system.
Interestingly, the commission on payment reform in Massachusetts is working toward a transition to more bundled (or even capitated) payments. Massachusetts state officials feel that a Medicare waiver (to allow bundled Medicare payment to MA providers) is an important component of the transition - but there are high hurdles to obtaining this waiver. Here is a link to the most recent presentation from this commission’s public hearings.
