Health Care Reform: Connecting the Dots

Passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has led to a lot of confusion about what is actually contained in the nearly 2,000 pages of the health care reform legislation. In response, AAFP News Now editors are working on a series of articles that, during the next few months, will spell out the various provisions of the law that will affect family physicians -- as physicians, small business owners and patient advocates. Although many of the final details of the law's provisions are yet to be worked out, the editors at AAFP News Now felt it was important that our readers were made aware of what is in the law and how it may affect them. AAFP News Now will continue to cover this subject as regulations arising out of the law are promulgated.

Health Care Reform Puts Payment Bundling to the Test

Success Demands Primary Care Participation, Says Expert

(2/21/2011, 12:00 a.m.) -- A primary goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is to rein in U.S. health care expenditures without sacrificing quality. To meet that goal, one provision of the act aims to test a new payment methodology by creating integrated care delivery systems that include hospitals, physicians, and other health care service providers and suppliers. According to one expert in health care law, the success of any such payment strategy absolutely depends on the involvement -- and fair treatment -- of primary care physicians. More