What does the use of "bundled payments" aim to improve?

The concept of bundled payments is designed to enhance overall healthcare cost efficiency for treatments. This model consolidates payments for multiple services that are provided during a specific episode of care into a single, comprehensive payment. By doing so, it encourages healthcare providers to streamline processes and coordinate more effectively, ultimately reducing unnecessary services and ensuring that patients receive high-quality care.

With bundled payments, providers are incentivized to focus on the overall outcome for the patient rather than the individual components of care. This approach can lead to more efficient use of resources and a reduction in healthcare expenditures, as it aligns the financial interests of providers with the goal of delivering better patient outcomes.

The other options, while they touch on important aspects of healthcare delivery, do not directly align with the primary goal of the bundled payment model. The focus is indeed on cost efficiency and quality of care rather than just patient choice, individual service pricing, or patient referrals to specialists.