Bundled Payments: Bundled Risk or Bundled Reward?

One potential option of President Obama's proposed health care plan is to change from fee-for-service to episode-of-care payments. These global payments would combine physician and hospital reimbursement from admission to discharge. In an effort to further evaluate this strategy, CMS has initiated a pilot study called the Acute Care Episode (ACE) Demonstration. Five hospitals in the United States have been chosen to participate. The authors review the history of bundled payments, the current ACE Demonstration, and the opinions of those radiologists involved and attempt to outline a plan for hospital-based practices to prepare for this possible scenario.