which is designed to entice hospitals to provide cost-effective care in
order to allocate healthcare dollars wisely, is less than a year old, so
we've yet to receive payments (payments begin after a hospital has
been enrolled in the CJR program for a year). However, we're confi-
dent that we'll do financially well under the new payment and will
focus our resources in areas that directly benefit patient care.
Patients with commercial payments are the highest margin cus-
tomers, so hospitals that develop outpatient hip programs now and
make them work financially under CMS's bundled payment program
will be well positioned for significant profits when the commercial
payers come calling.
OSM
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 9 7
Dr. Schultz (richard.schultz@bswhealth.org) is director of orthopedics at Scott &
White Healthcare in Round Rock, Texas.
