What is capitation in simple terms?

Asked by: Alberta Heaney  |  Last update: October 4, 2023
Score: 5/5 (38 votes)

Capitation: A way of paying health care providers or organizations in which they receive a predictable, upfront, set amount of money to cover the predicted cost of all or some of the health care services for a specific patient over a certain period of time.

What is a simple explanation of capitation?

Capitation is a fixed amount of money per patient per unit of time paid in advance to the physician for the delivery of health care services.

What is an example of a capitation payment?

Here's an example of how a healthcare capitation model works. An insurer enters a one-year capitation contract with a healthcare provider to secure coverage for its members. The healthcare provider would be paid a fixed amount to provide care services for all of the insurer's members, say 3,000 of them.

Is capitation good or bad?

Under capitation, unpredictable expenditures or poor outcomes even for a small cohort of patients could lead to financial losses for health systems.

What are the disadvantages of capitation in healthcare?

Potential Drawbacks of Capitation
  • Incentivize enrolling a large number of patients which can result in longer waits, and shorter time, for individual patient visits.
  • Restrict patient choice by requiring patients to stay within the network.

Capitation Payment in Healthcare: How does it work?

19 related questions found

Who benefits the most from capitation?

A capitation fee system is ideal and very beneficial for HMOs, IPAs, and basically any type of payer organization. At the same time, providers can also decrease their record-keeping expenses with this system. This is because providers under an IPA won't need to hire a lot of billing staff to process all their payments.

How do you explain capitation in healthcare?

Capitation: A way of paying health care providers or organizations in which they receive a predictable, upfront, set amount of money to cover the predicted cost of all or some of the health care services for a specific patient over a certain period of time.

What is a drawback of capitation?

Capitation can also encourage providers to enroll large numbers of patients, which can lead to short visits for patients and long wait times. Financial risk for patients with major medical issues is borne by the provider in the case of capitation agreements.

What are the criticisms of capitation?

Risk-assuming providers face lower profitability and increased exposure to operating losses, and must reduce patient benefits. Global capitation causes inefficiency, increases healthcare costs, and threatens patient-provider relationships.

How are providers and patients affected by capitated payments?

By providing a fixed amount of payment upfront, healthcare providers have an incentive to manage their costs, while also providing appropriate care for their patients. This can lead to better patient outcomes and cost savings for both the healthcare provider and the payer.

What are the pros of capitation?

It makes costs much more predictable for payers, and gives the doctors and other providers a more predictable monthly cash flow. It can be simpler administer – a fee per patient rather than complicated billing and elaborate coding for every visit and procedure.

What risk does a health system bear when it agrees to accept capitation?

In entering into a capitation contract, a provider accepts the risk that the average per member cost of delivering healthcare to the population under contract may be greater than the per member premium.

What is paid by capitation?

Capitation: where a payment is made to a PCP for every patient for whom they provide care. Fee‐for‐service (FFS): where payment is made to a PCP for every item of service or unit of care that they provide.

What is true about capitation payment?

Capitation is a payment arrangement for health care services in which an entity (e.g., a physician or group of physicians) receives a risk adjusted amount of money for each person attributed to them, per period of time, regardless of the volume of services that person seeks.

Is capitation full risk?

Full-risk capitation arrangements involve shared financial risk among all participants and place providers at risk not only for their own financial performance, but also for the performance of other providers in the network.

Is capitation a type of healthcare reimbursement?

Primary care capitation is a reimbursement model that refers solely to primary care clinical services. When a primary care provider (PCP) signs a capitation agreement, she agrees to provide a predetermined set of services.

What is the opposite of capitation?

Capitation and fee-for-service (FFS) are different modes of payment for healthcare providers. In capitation, doctors are paid a set amount for each patient they see, while FFS pays doctors according to what procedures are used to treat a patient.

Which of the following best describes capitation?

Which of the following best describes capitation? A payment mechanism in which health care services are included under one set fee per covered individual.

Does capitation improve quality of care?

Contemporary evidence from a population-based primary care system in Hawaii demonstrated that capitated payments were associated with improvements in a Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) composite quality measure score, as well as a reduction in number of visits [33].

Are charges covered under capitation?

What Is a Capitated Contract? A capitated contract is a healthcare plan that allows payment of a flat fee for each patient it covers. Under a capitated contract, an HMO or managed care organization pays a fixed amount of money for its members to the health care provider.

Is capitation as a way to pay physicians is increasing in popularity?

Capitation as a way to pay physicians is increasing in popularity. Under capitation physicians are paid a fixed dollar amount, which is typically defined as per member, per month. Medicaid automatically pays for a beneficiary's first 100 days in a skilled nursing facility.

What is the difference between case rate and capitation?

The biggest difference between capitation and case rate is that providers get a flat monthly fee with capitation, while they receive a flat fee per visit with case rate. Capitation also covers all of the health services a member receives during that month.

What is the difference between capitation payment and fee-for-service?

Fee-for-service (FFS) means that providers bill and are paid for each medical service delivered – physician visit, test or intervention, hospital day. Capitation means that providers are paid a monthly amount per beneficiary for all services or just some (e.g., primary care).

What is a synonym for the word capitation?

synonyms for capitation

On this page you'll find 27 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to capitation, such as: contribution, cost, duty, expense, fine, and levy.

Is capitation the same as value based care?

The broad phrase “value-based reimbursement” encompasses two radically different payment approaches: capitation and bundled payments. In capitation, the health care organization receives a fixed payment per year per covered life and must meet all the needs of a broad patient population.