Fee-For-Service, While Much Maligned, Remains The Dominant Payment Method For Physician Visits

Area of Science:

• Health Economics
• Healthcare Payment Models

Background:

• Healthcare systems are exploring alternatives to traditional fee-for-service payment models.
• Risk-based payment alternatives are being developed to incentivize value over volume.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the persistence and growth of fee-for-service reimbursement in physician office visits.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of national healthcare reimbursement data.
• Examination of payment trends in physician office settings.

Main Results:

• Fee-for-service remains the predominant healthcare payment method.
• The use of fee-for-service reimbursement has continued to increase.
• In 2013, approximately 95% of physician office visits were paid via fee-for-service.

Conclusions:

• Fee-for-service payment models continue to dominate despite the shift towards alternative payment structures.
• Further research is needed to understand the barriers to adopting risk-based payment models.