The quest to create a more rational health-care system took a dispiriting turn this month, when the federal government abandoned an effort to motivate doctors to use the best available drugs, rather than the costliest ones. What’s worrisome is that this could be the start of a more general retreat from payment reform in health care as the White House changes hands.
Related: Medicare releases new payment model
The effort in question was to change the fee that Medicare now pays doctors for administering drugs in their offices, a fee that amounts to 6 percent of the drug’s cost. Under this system, the pricier the medicine, the greater a doctor’s financial incentive to use it.
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