Global physician payments show promise as consumers wait for savings

One in five patients in Massachusetts is now under some kind of global payment. Blue Cross Blue Shield launched this experiment in Massachusetts in 2009. Michael Chernew, and a team of researchers at Harvard Medical School, recently took a look at what happened in the first two years. The 11 physician groups and hospitals that joined in 2009 and 2010 did a better job than physicians in traditional medical contracts of making sure that patients received standard check-ups, cancer screening tests and other preventive care. Overall they trimmed spending by just under 3 percent.