The ongoing debate in the medical industry is whether fee for service (FFS) medical care leads to excessive health care spending. Hence the increasing shift from payments based on volume towards value. More third party payers are reimbursing providers with a bundled payment – a fixed fee that is to be distributed to all providers involved in a patient’s episode of care, such as a hip replacement.

Bundled payments certainly forces providers to “do more with less,” but is this transition away from the traditional fee for service model going to maintain quality care and effectively curb rising costs?

Click here to read the Wall Street Journal’s article featuring different opinions from two experts on the issue.