Mass. Panel Revamps Health Payment Plan

 

Saturday, Jul 18,2009, 10:56:25 AM   Click:

A state commission has recommended changes in the way Massachusetts, it pays doctors and hospitals to health care to control costs and improve patient care.

The committee, in its unanimous adoption of the plan, says he wants private insurers, and state and federal Medicaid programs to pay the suppliers a fixed payment for each patient, which cover all the care that person for a year and implement the change within five years, The Boston Globe reported Friday.

Under the proposal, primary care physicians, specialists, hospitals and health organizations at home as responsible care organizations. Patients to choose a primary care doctor to coordinate their care. Insurers will pay the account from year to year the organization of care per patient fee which would be shared between providers.

The commission's vote abandons the current system in which insurers pay doctors and hospitals a negotiated fee for individual procedures or visits.


If lawmakers adopt the commission's recommendation, Massachusetts would be the first state to adopt such a "global payment'' system, officials said.

"This is an historic moment, an extraordinary moment in healthcare in Massachusetts," Andrew Dreyfus, senior vice president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts and a commission member, said after the panel's vote. "I urge the Legislature and the administration to take this up quickly."