Physician practices serving high-risk patients may face higher financial penalties

During the first year of a Medicare reimbursement program that rewards quality performance and lower costs, physician practices serving a disproportionate number of high-risk patients were more likely to receive financial penalties, according to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and University of Michigan researchers and colleagues.

The study was published August 1, 2017 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Harvard Chan School authors included Arnold Epstein, John H. Foster Professor of Health Policy and Management and chair, Department of Health Policy and Management, E. John Orav, associate professor in the Department of Biostatistics, and Karen Joynt Maddox, assistant professor at the Washington University School of Medicine and instructor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard Chan School.

Read an AHA News Now article: Study: High-risk practices more likely to receive physician VBP penalty

Read a Becker’s Hospital CFO Report article: Study: Providers caring for socially, medically high-risk patients see fewer bonuses, more penalties