Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

The PROMETHEUS Bundled Payment Experiment: Slow Start Shows Problems In Implementing New Payment Models

One of the leading alternative payment models proposed in the Affordable Care Act of 2010 is bundled payment, which provides payment for all of the care a patient needs over the course of a defined clinical episode, instead of paying for each discrete service. We evaluated the initial “road test” of PROMETHEUS Payment, one of several bundled payment pilot projects. The project has faced substantial implementation challenges, and none of the three pilot sites had executed contracts or made bundled payments as of May 2011.