Health Services Research Theme Issue Explores Payment Reform - The Theme Series - December 2010

Health Services Research Theme Issue Explores Payment Reform


The December issue of Health Services Research, published in cooperation with AHRQ, presents research on payment reform, which will play a critical role in efforts to improve the quality and value of health care under the Affordable Care Act. The goal of this theme issue is to provide new information about how to best design and implement payment reforms, focusing particularly on structuring payment bundles that reduce regional variation without harming quality; selecting performance measures that really do measure performance; fine-tuning pay-for-performance models; and taking into account external market factors. The issue’s seven papers address when and under what circumstances a payment system works to achieve certain objectives. In brief, the authors found that potentially avoidable hospitalizations for chronic illnesses add 30 percent to employers’ health care spending for certain chronic conditions; more aggressive hospital care costs more but saves lives; composite measures can successfully assess the quality of physician preventive and chronic care services; surveys can make an effective contribution to risk-adjustment for children with chronic conditions; payment initiatives from one payer affect patients with other payers; and the impact of quality incentives varies with the competitiveness of the market. Select to access the Health Services Research: Part II, December 2010.


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The Theme Series - December 2010



Payment Reform
Sponsored by The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
HSR December 2010HSR developed the idea of Theme Issues to provide a vehicle for attracting and publishing ground-breaking research on a topic of major policy significance for the nation. HSR's December Theme Issue on Payment Reform was generously sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and features articles on pay-for-performance, risk-adjusted capitation, prospective payment, and geographic variations in care, among other topics. We believe that readers will find these articles are relevant for several of the most salient ongoing policy debates.

Table of Contents

Payment Reform
Irene Fraser, William Encinosa and Laurence Baker
Payment Reform - Fraser - 2010 - Health Services Research - Wiley Online Library

Reducing Potentially Avoidable Complications in Patients with Chronic Diseases: The Prometheus Payment Approach
Francois De Brantes, Amita Rastogi and Michael Painter
Reducing Potentially Avoidable Complications in Patients with Chronic Diseases: The Prometheus Payment Approach - De Brantes - 2010 - Health Services Research - Wiley Online Library

Aggressive Treatment Style and Surgical Outcomes
Jeffrey H. Silber, Robert Kaestner, Orit Even-Shoshan, Yanli Wang and Laura J. Bressler
Aggressive Treatment Style and Surgical Outcomes - Silber - 2010 - Health Services Research - Wiley Online Library

Comment on Silber et al.: Aggressive Treatment Styles and Surgical Outcomes
Elliott Fisher and Jonathan Skinner
Comment on Silber et al.: Aggressive Treatment Styles and Surgical Outcomes - Fisher - 2010 - Health Services Research - Wiley Online Library

Comment on Silber et al.: Investing in Postadmission Survival—A “Failure-to-Rescue” U.S. Population Health
Amber E. Barnato

Response to Commentaries on Silber et al.: Aggressive Treatment Styles and Surgical Outcomes
Jeffrey H. Silber and Robert Kaestner
Response to Commentaries on Silber et al.: Aggressive Treatment Styles and Surgical Outcomes - Silber - 2010 - Health Services Research - Wiley Online Library

The Comprehensive Care Project: Measuring Physician Performance in Ambulatory Practice
Eric S. Holmboe, Weifeng Weng, Gerald K. Arnold, Sherrie H. Kaplan, Sharon-Lise Normand, Sheldon Greenfield, Sarah Hood and Rebecca S. Lipner
The Comprehensive Care Project: Measuring Physician Performance in Ambulatory Practice - Holmboe - 2010 - Health Services Research - Wiley Online Library

Improving Timely Childhood Immunizations through Pay for Performance in Medicaid-Managed Care
Alyna T. Chien, Zhonghe Li and Meredith B. Rosenthal
Improving Timely Childhood Immunizations through Pay for Performance in Medicaid-Managed Care - Chien - 2010 - Health Services Research - Wiley Online Library

Risk-Adjusted Capitation Rates for Children: How Useful Are the Survey-Based Measures?
Hao Yu and Andrew W. Dick
Risk-Adjusted Capitation Rates for Children: How Useful Are the Survey-Based Measures? - Yu - 2010 - Health Services Research - Wiley Online Library

Medicaid Bed-Hold Policy and Medicare Skilled Nursing Facility Rehospitalizations
David C. Grabowski, Zhanlian Feng, Orna Intrator and Vincent Mor
Medicaid Bed-Hold Policy and Medicare Skilled Nursing Facility Rehospitalizations - Grabowski - 2010 - Health Services Research - Wiley Online Library

Effects of Competition on the Cost and Quality of Inpatient Rehabilitation Care under Prospective Payment
Carrie Hoverman Colla, José J. Escarce, Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin and Neeraj Sood
Effects of Competition on the Cost and Quality of Inpatient Rehabilitation Care under Prospective Payment - Colla - 2010 - Health Services Research - Wiley Online Library

The Theme Series - December 2010