Massachusetts seeks to revamp way doctors, hospitals are paid

A Massachusetts commission is poised to recommend this month that insurers radically change how they pay doctors and hospitals. Commission members said they will urge Gov. Deval Patrick and the Legislature to replace the current system, in which insurers typically pay doctors and hospitals a negotiated fee for each individual procedure or visit, with a set payment for each patient that covers all that person's care for an entire year. Massachusetts would be the first state to broadly adopt such a system, which would essentially put doctors and hospitals on a budget in an effort to restrain health spending.