Changing doctor pay best bet to curb costs

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov. 12 (UPI) -- The most-promising option for curbing healthcare costs is changing the way doctors and hospitals are paid, an analysis by a U.S. non-profit group found.

However, the analysis by the Rand Corp. found that to change the current system policymakers would have to overcome significant obstacles.

Other promising approaches to slow healthcare spending include: Adoption of electronic health records, programs to better-manage chronic diseases, strengthening patients use of primary care and encouraging wider use of lower-cost providers such as nurse practitioners and settings such as retail health clinics.

"Our analysis shows it is possible to reduce spending on healthcare services, but there are many barriers that first must be overcome," study co-other Elizabeth McGlynn, an associate director of Rand Health, said in a statement.

"The nation's healthcare system needs to improve its ability to evaluate and adopt promising cost-saving strategies in the future."

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that by far the single most promising approach is bundling payments for medical care. Under such an approach, doctors, hospitals and other health providers would receive one set fee for treating all aspects of a procedure such as a hip replacement surgery or a chronic disease such as diabetes, the study said.