Should Health Care Come with a Warranty?
This study supported by The Commonwealth Fund and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation finds that warranties could improve the care that patients receive while enabling medical providers to improve their profit margins.
This warranty model, called "Prometheus Payment," determines a risk-adjusted "evidence-informed case rate" (ECR) for specific conditions and pays a global fee to providers covering all services recommended by established clinical guidelines. ECR's compensate providers for all expected costs, and only half of the costs associated with potentially avoidable complications creating a financial incentive for improving their performance. This warranty system is a promising strategy to encourage providers to reduce avoidable complications without hurting their profit margins.
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