How can you prepare for bundled payments for the spine?
Hospitals have successfully implemented bundled payments for hip and knee replacements, and they are now looking to target spine as the next successful bundle. Dr. Jed Vanichkachorn of Tuckahoe Orthopaedics in Richmond, VA. discussed with Becker’s Spine Review how surgeons can prepare for the inevitable evolution of bundled payments into spine:
Spine surgery in a value-based world: Dr. Jed Vanichkachorn on spine bundled payments “Spine surgeons are beginning to see a real shift from fee-for-service to value-based care as insurance companies pass the risk onto providers. The payers push integrated care models and population health initiatives for the future.”
His group has proactively begun collecting outcomes to prepare for the future. As outcomes must be collected prospectively, and require a lot of data at least a year after surgery to become useful, outcomes have often been kicked down the road by groups to accommodate more pressing initiatives.
“As surgeons and patients take on more risk – patients are paying more out-of-pocket and surgeons are paid based on the quality of data – both sides are paying more attention to outcomes and cost.” Says Dr. Vanichkachorn. “You have to show value with your data, not just clinical effectiveness, to survive down the road.”
CODE Technology’s ability to collect patient-reported outcomes as a service taking place completely behind the scenes allows for practices or hospitals to quantify their value, without having to invest in more staff/software.
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