A recent study from the RAND Corporation and the American Medical Association shows that compared to four years ago, physician practices are not as willing to take part in alternative payment models with downside financial perils. Interestingly, back in 2014, healthcare stakeholders, frontline physicians, and physician practice leaders all showed a willingness to join these risky alternative payment models, believing that the models would spur changes in how providers deliver care.
Fast forward to 2018 and risk-based models have now waned in interest. Even practices that already invested in the care management infrastructure required for risk-based models showed a lack of interest in assuming more risk. Some participants expressed less interest in risk-based models even once they had inked contracts with downside financial risk over the past couple of years.
The risk tradeoff related to assuming more risk-based alternative payment models is pushing physician practices away from agreeing to new value-based contracts. Then again, the study also revealed that the rate of change and complexity of the models is also changing. This pace of change in payment models has been accelerating since 2014.
The healthcare industry already has been through a whirlwind of healthcare payment and regulatory changes, including but not limited to the introduction of the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), bundled Medicare payment programs, and the proliferation of ACOs.
To read more about the study, please visit https://revcycleintelligence.com/news/practices-still-averse-to-risk-based-alternative-payment-models.
This update is by Medical Accounts Systems, a full-service healthcare revenue cycle management company providing a number of services including insurance follow up and managed care disputes, physician reimbursement, hospital extended business office services, and more. For additional information on our services or for any questions you may have on topics such as medical debt collection, please call 877-759-6315.