Surgical Low-Value Care Between Fee-For-Service and Salaried Health Care Systems

Is a health care system’s reimbursement model associated with provision of low-value surgical care?This cohort study including 304 908 procedures identified significant differences in the use of low-value care in a salaried direct care environment (20%) compared with the private-sector fee-for-service setting (35%). Low-value surgery was significantly lower in each respective sector for 2020 to 2023 vs 2016 to 2019.This cohort study supports the contention that changing clinician reimbursement models from fee-for-service to salaried was associated with lower rates of low-value care.

Corresponding Author: Andrew J. Schoenfeld, MD, MSc, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Mass General Brigham, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis St, Boston, MA 02115 (aschoenfeld@bwh.harvard.edu).

Link to the article in your story

We encourage you to link out to this article in your story using the link below. It includes an access token that will give free access to the article for your readers up to one year after publication. (The link will be live after the article publishes and embargo is lifted.)

Please see the article for additional information, including full author list, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

Need more information? Contact us.