Capitation makes docs insurers
Capitation is an inefficient practice that forces physicians into the insurance business, lumps inappropriate risk types, and prohibits competitive pricing, write researchers in the March issue of The American Journal of Managed Care.
Douglas W. Emery of the Institute of Political Economy in Sandy, UT, and his colleagues from Utah State University in Logan write, "The standard unidimensional model of risk generally used to analyze capitation [is] inadequate."
The authors propose a system in which health care is priced and delivered by episodes of care.
They say patient/provider interactions per disease should be analyzed as a function of time. They say this practice will separate the purchase of health care from the purchase of health insurance and allow providers to focus on managing technical risk. He admits the proposal will be resisted by larger HMOs but it can succeed in other health care markets.
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