Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has unveiled a plan to move the state toward a global payment system to reduce healthcare costs and reward physicians based on how healthy they keep patients, according to a Boston Globe report.
The state passed a landmark healthcare law in 2006 that expanded coverage to about 98 percent of residents. Gov. Patrick said the state is ready to lead again — this time on health cost containment. A new healthcare council will be formed under the proposed global payment model, with top public officials placing pressure on the market to hold boundaries for how much providers can charge for operations or tests, according to the report.
The bill would also maintain and strengthen the authority of the state’s insurance commissioner to review healthcare premiums and reject excessive premium increases. The commissioner would also be allowed to consider the relative health of a provider so hospitals with fewer resources aren’t punished.
The proposed legislation would create a more formal, statewide structure, but some providers and payors have already formed agreements in this direction. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and the physicians of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, for example, signed an “alternative quality contract” in December as part of an effort to lower costs by paying physicians for quality, not quantity, of care provided.
Read the Boston Globe report on Massachusetts’ healthcare system.
Read more about healthcare in Massachusetts:
– Insurance Plans Restricting Care to Low-Cost Hospitals Well Received by Employers
– BCBS of Massachusetts Reports Success of New Fixed Payments for Physicians
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