Skilled-nursing facilities cut therapist staffing levels after the transition to PDPM and did not offset those changes with other hiring, according to a new study.
Bundled payments reduce surgery costs by 10.7%
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Bundled payments helped cut costs for several surgery types by more than 10%, with those savings passed on to employers and patients, a new study found.
Joint replacement, spinal fusion and gastrointestinal surgeries were on average $4,229 less when providers charged a set price compared to prior payment models, according to a RAND Corp. analysis of 2,372 procedures covered by self-insured employers between 2016 and 2020. The study, which used data from Carrum Health, was published in Health Affairs on Monday.
Employers received around 85% of the savings, or $3,582 per episode that represented a 9.5% relative decrease, while patients paid $498 less per episode marking a 27.7% relative decrease after their cost-sharing obligations were waived, according to the study. The impacts of the program increased over time, with employers effectively saving $7 for every $1 in patient copays waived, researchers said, noting that bun