Why Physicians Should Like Bundled Payment

Fee For Service payment has been the dominant form of reimbursement in America for decades. Yet increasingly it is viewed as a factor contributing to the ills of our system: high costs and sub optimal quality. Several reports have noted that prices for health care services in US are often considerably higher than in other countries. Moreover, within the US there is wide variation in prices paid by different praters. For example, the article by Robinson in this issue carefully documents a wide gap (33%) in payment between Medicare and Commercial payers for cardiac valve replacement. For all its flaws, the Medicare program is able to obtain (impose) lower prices than private insurers. (December 2011)