Here are four things to know about the proposal, as stated in the report.
1. An overall payment model for Vermont patients and providers is still a work in progress. However, Al Gobeille, the state’s top healthcare regulator, said the state’s goal is “to make the new model attractive, transformative, so primary care physicians and doctors want in,” according to the report.
2. Under the proposed plan, payments to physicians and hospitals would change. Specifically, instead of the itemized bills that follow every test, office visit and hospital procedure, there would be a flat payment each month or quarter to take care of patients, according to the report. The governor said those payments would increase roughly 3.5 percent annually, according to the report.
3. According to officials, a shift to a new payment model would be voluntary.
4. If Medicare, Medicaid and presumably, private health insurance companies agree, the payment shift could begin to phase in starting in 2017, Gov. Shumlin said, according to WPTZ.
More articles on finance:
For-profit hospital stock report: Week of Jan. 18-22
Kaiser Permanente CEO calls drug prices irrational
Pa. rural hospitals face threat due to state budget impasse: 6 things to know
