Mass. panel revamps health payment plan

BOSTON, July 17 (UPI) -- A state commission has recommended Massachusetts change the way it pays doctors and hospitals to rein in healthcare costs and improve patient care.

The panel, in its unanimous adoption of the plan, said it wants private insurers, and state and federal Medicaid programs to pay providers a fixed payment for each patient that would cover all that person's care for a year and implement the change within five years, The Boston Globe reported Friday.

Under the proposal, primary care physicians, specialists, hospitals and home health agencies would form accountable care organizations. Patients would choose a primary care doctor to coordinate their care. Insurers would pay the accountable care organization a yearly per-patient fee that would be split among the providers.

The commission's vote abandons the current system in which insurers pay doctors and hospitals a negotiated fee for individual procedures or visits.

If lawmakers adopt the commission's recommendation, Massachusetts would be the first state to adopt such a "global payment'' system, officials said.

"This is an historic moment, an extraordinary moment in healthcare in Massachusetts," Andrew Dreyfus, senior vice president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts and a commission member, said after the panel's vote. "I urge the Legislature and the administration to take this up quickly."