Panel recommends overhauling US doc payments

An expert panel is urging that U.S. healthcare abandon fee-for-service payments and transition to a new system by the end of the decade in a bid to slow cost growth and improve outcomes.

In a report out Monday, the National Commission on Physician Payment Reform (NCPPR) also recommended repealing Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula and paying for the move by cutting overutilization of Medicare services.

The guidance was part of 12 recommendations endorsed by the panel, which was convened last year by the Society of General Internal Medicine. 

The NCPPR laid out a blueprint for moving away from fee-for-service and toward fixed payments within a decade. It suggested testing new models within a five-year time frame.

"The current skewed physician payment system causes a number of problem," the report stated. "In all cases, payment … should reward behavior that improves quality, care coordination, and cost effectiveness."

Doctor reimbursements from private and public payers should also "penalize behavior that misuses or overuses care that does not add benefits to patients but simply adds to the cost," the report said.

The NCPPR also urged streamlined costs across medical settings, more outcome-based performance measures, and more transparency and accountability within the Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC), which advises the Medicare-Medicaid agency on physician payments.

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