More providers support bundled payments

More than 60 percent of healthcare providers said in a recent survey that bundled payment models may save money and improve the quality of healthcare, according to a statement from KPMG LLP, an audit, tax and advisory firm.

Of 190 healthcare providers who were polled:

  • 38 percent already work with bundled payments
  • 24 percent plan to in the future
  • 36 percent were undecided
  • 2 percent had no intention to offer bundled plans

The biggest challenges in implementing bundled plans were as follows:

  • Coordinating between hospitals and physicians (44 percent)
  • Keeping expenditures under control (31 percent)
  • Keeping track of performance information throughout the organization (18 percent)

Key components of the bundled payment strategies were: 

  • Ability to manage big data (28 percent)
  • Commitment from leaders in the field (26 percent)
  • Providers' ability to manage big data (26 percent)

Under the bundled model, outpatient and inpatient costs, professional fees and post-discharge costs for particular conditions are combined into one payment.

"Based on our study, providers are generating anywhere between 15 percent to 60 percent or more of their revenues from risk-based methods, such as bundling," said Marc Berg, KPMG's head of strategy and transformation for healthcare and life sciences, in the statement. "We expect those numbers to grow further as providers see how bundling can strengthen relations with physician groups and take steps toward becoming preferred partners with the payer community."

A June study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicated that the trend toward bundled payments, along with other programs such as accountable care organizations, could help get inpatient costs under control, FierceHealthcare previously reported.

To learn more:
- read the statement