Medicare bundles lead to some hospital savings, but mortality rates stay flat, study says
Becker's Healthcare July 1, 2020
Long-term participation in Medicare bundled payment initiatives generated some savings for hospitals, but little change in mortality outcomes, according to a study published in the BMJ.
For the analysis, researchers from the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia, the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia examined hospitals in bundled payment programs for heart attacks, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia. The researchers compared 226 hospitals in the bundled payment programs with 700 hospitals that weren’t.
The study authors found hospitals that participated in the bundled...