Evaluation of Economic and Clinical Outcomes Under Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Mandatory Bundled Payments for Joint Replacements

Derek A. Haas; Xiaoran  Zhang; Robert S. Kaplan; Zirui  Song

Article | JAMA Internal Medicine | July 2019

Evaluation of Economic and Clinical Outcomes Under Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Mandatory Bundled Payments for Joint Replacements

by Derek A. Haas, Xiaoran Zhang, Robert S. Kaplan and Zirui Song

Abstract

In 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched its first mandatory bundled payment program, the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model, by randomizing metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) into the payment model. The paper analyzed Medicare costs for beneficiaries undergoing lower extremity joint replacement between April 1, 2016, through December 31, 2017. The introduction of the CJR was associated with reduced Medicare Part A spending ($582 per episode, a 2.5% savings) largely through lower post-acute spending in skilled nursing facilities. The CJR hospitals had no significant differences in hospital length of stay, readmissions, complications, 30- or 90-day mortality, volume of episodes, or patient characteristics relative to the non-CJR hospitals. We conclude that mandatory bundled payments may help to change clinicians’ and facilities’ behavior without harming quality.

Keywords: Medicare; Medicaid; bundled payments; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Performance Evaluation; Outcome or Result;

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Citation:

Haas, Derek A., Xiaoran Zhang, Robert S. Kaplan, and Zirui Song. "Evaluation of Economic and Clinical Outcomes Under Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Mandatory Bundled Payments for Joint Replacements." JAMA Internal Medicine 179, no. 7 (July 2019): 924–931.

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Article | American Heart Journal

Are Cost Advantages from a Modern Indian Hospital Transferable to the United States?

R. S. Kaplan, F. Erhun, V.G. Narayanan, B. Mistry and K. Brayton, et al

We use time-driven activity-based costing to estimate the cost of personnel and space for an elective coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery at two U.S. hospitals, Intermountain and Baylor Heart, and Narayana Health (NH), in India. All three hospitals use modern management methods to achieve excellent patient outcomes. We use variance analysis to remove the effect of differential prices paid for personnel and space at the three hospitals. NH, even at U.S. price levels, retains a cost advantage over the two U.S. hospitals by shifting tasks to less-credentialed and/or less-experienced personnel, supervised by highly-skilled personnel, a practice facilitated by NH’s high annual CABG volume. NH offsets some of its task downshifting cost savings by having lower-skilled employees spend more time counseling patients and their families for in-hospital and home recovery. NH’s cost-saving practices could be captured by U.S. hospitals by relaxing hospital and health professional licensing regulations, encouraging greater family participation in inpatient care, and performing complex surgeries in high-volume regional centers of excellence.

Keywords: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Organizational Structure; Performance Efficiency; India; United States;

Citation:

Kaplan, R. S., F. Erhun, V.G. Narayanan, B. Mistry, and K. Brayton, et al. "Are Cost Advantages from a Modern Indian Hospital Transferable to the United States?" American Heart Journal 224 (June 2020): 148–155. View Details

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Evaluation of Economic and Clinical Outcomes Under Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Mandatory Bundled Payments for Joint Replacements

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