It’s obvious that, to be truly effective in lowering costs and improving quality, payment  bundling must include outpatient services as well as inpatient services, but the logistics of doing so are daunting. Geri Aston discusses this in today’s amednews.com

One model to consider is that used by Mount Auburn Hospital in Massachusetts. The bundled payments from Massachusetts Blue Cross and Blue Shield go  to Mount Auburn’s independent primary care physicians for distribution according to a contractual arrangement. Read about it in Leadership magazine published by Healthcare Financial Management Association.