Starting in 2014, Maryland’s acute-care hospitals have been paid under a global budgeting system. According to a Commonwealth Fund–supported study in JAMA Internal Medicine, while hospitals have met the budget, there has been no appreciable reduction in use of services — such as number of hospital stays, emergency department visits, and primary care visits — when compared with control counties outside the state. University of Pittsburgh health economist Eric T. Roberts and his colleagues explore why.
Did Hospital Global Budgets Have an Impact on Health Care Use in Maryland?
