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Blue Cross aims to lower costs and improve quality

Patient Access Weekly Advisor, The Boston Globe, January 23, 2008

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Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts is proposing to change the way it pays doctors and hospitals, in an effort to control healthcare costs and improve the quality of care, the Boston Globe reports.

The state's leading health insurer wants to stop paying for each patient visit or treatment, an arrangement that most experts say has resulted in inefficient healthcare.

Blue Cross officials say they are proposing to pay doctors and hospitals a flat amount per patient each year, adjusted for patient age and illness, along with a bonus if the provider improves the quality of their care, according to the January 22 report in the Boston Globe.

Blue Cross hopes to cut the medical costs growth by half in 2-4 years among providers who accept the new payment system.

To read the story in the Boston Globe, click here

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