California payers look at devices
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
California's non-profit Integrated Healthcare Association will use a $1.3 million grant from the Blue Shield of California Foundation to implement statewide collection of comparative data on cardiac and orthopedic medical technology to benchmark quality and cost, the group announces May 30. IHA also will explore new payment models for devices, including so-called "bundled" pricing, where hospitals and physicians receive a single lump payment for an episode-of-care. CMS also recently announced plans for a demonstration project evaluating bundled Medicare payments for cardiac and orthopedic procedures (1"The Gray Sheet" May 26, 2008, p. 12)