What is in the Medicare bill that passed?

[antigop]

http://www.daytondailynews.com/ap/ap/top-news/leaders-try-pushing-medicare-bill-to-final-congres/nktP5/

The bill's chief feature was its annulling of a 1997 law aimed at slowing the growth of Medicare that has repeatedly threatened deep cuts in reimbursements to physicians and led to threats by doctors to stop treating the program's beneficiaries. Congress has blocked 17 reductions since 2003, an exercise that invites intense lobbying and difficult choices about finding budget savings that both parties detested.

Instead, the measure would create a new payment system with financial incentives for physicians to bill Medicare patients for their overall care, not individual office visits.

What is the "new payment system"?

[antiquie]

1. ...and what does "bill Medicare patients" mean to us? nt

[antigop]

2. have you noticed there seems to be very, very little written about this in the press? nt

[antiquie]

3. Yep, as if there were only a few people affected. nt

[antigop]

4. This is very worrisome. nt

[bananas]

5. I think I read about this last year

If it's what I'm remembering, the idea is that doctors get paid based on treatment outcomes, not office visits.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. yes. and that is the Obamacare model as well.

It's a managed care format.

I happen to have found the outcomes manual on line, for Obamacare.
The concept is not new, but the jargon makes for incredibly difficult reading.
In truth, the initial outcomes are quite easy, as they are designed to introduce doctors to the idea of such measurements.
One outcome is along the lines of " patient keeps follow ups visits".

Translating health services to measurable outcomes is something that major insurance companies esp. BCBS, have done for years now,
and since they wrote a lot of the Affordable Health Care Act, the language is familiar to those who have been exposed to BCBS managed care programs.