Proposal creates care "warranty" model

Offering any kind of guaranteed results for healthcare services isn't just counterintuitive--some doctors might tell you it's just plain crazy. But that isn't stopping healthcare quality advocate Francois de Brantes, who's promoting a new reimbursement model which (believe it or not) comes with a warranty.

In a new paper published in Health Affairs, de Brantes is talking up a new payment method known as Promethus Payment. The model, developed with the support of the Commonwealth Fund and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, offers set fees to providers covering all recommended services, treatments and procedures for specific conditions. Those payments are risk-adjusted to account for the needs of older or frailer patients.

The warranty aspect of the deal, meanwhile, requires providers to pay one-half the costs arising from preventable complications. Not only does a warranty cut costs to the health system, it also improves quality and service, de Brantes says. "A warranty means that you are going to think in terms of the customer's experience and perceptions...not in terms of an artificial payment construct or third party payer system," de Brantes told the New York Times.

To find out more about this model:
- read this article [1] in the New York Times

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