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 Rising healthcare costs in the United States have become a topic of
heated national debate and maternity care has been earmarked as a
big driver of high-cost claims for large employers and health
insurers.
UnitedHealth's new bundled-payment program aims to reduce expenses
by reimbursing hospitals or care providers with a single fee for a
defined period of care that typically covers prenatal, delivery and
postpartum services.
The system is likely to reduce financial incentives for hospitals to
charge more for expensive procedures such as C-sections as they will
no longer be able to make separate claims for each doctor's visit,
treatment or test provided during and after pregnancy.
The largest U.S. health insurer's program comes as large companies
such as General Electric Co make similar efforts to curb excessive
spending on maternity care. GE has launched an effort to steer its
employees to hospitals that are less likely to recommend unnecessary
and costly interventions.
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UnitedHealth's program has been deployed at two healthcare providers
so far and the company plans to expand the effort to as many as 20
care provider groups by end of the year.
The health insurer has been working to reduce hospital admissions
before delivery for pregnant women on its health plans and cut down
on the number of non-medically required cesarean deliveries.
The company hopes $75 billion worth of claims it pays out annually
will be tied to arrangements like bundled payment programs by end of
2020.
(Reporting by Tamara Mathias in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini
Ganguli)
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