Should the US Move Away From Fee for Service Medicine? Asks The Wall Street Journal

Two experts were invited to debate the pros and cons of healthcare’s fee-for-service model in the article Should the U.S. Move Away from Fee-for-Service Medicine? by The Wall Street Journal.

Under the fee-for-service model, billing occurs for every medical visit and procedure. Patients typically pay a per-visit copay and insurance companies reimburse providers for every service rendered.

In the article, Paul B. Ginsburg, of the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, takes the stance that fee for service has contributed to escalating health-care costs. Fee for service isn’t causing problems, says Richard Amerling, president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons.

At SimpleTherapy, our position is that a flat-fee, “all-you-can-eat” approach for those who wish to access our therapeutic exercise programs is the most advantageous for our subscribers.

With both of our subscription options (three months for an episode of pain, and one year for those with chronic or recurring pain), everyone may return as many times as they’d like for a completely personalized program, until they achieve the level of pain relief that matches their personal goal.

Over a quarter of our subscribers elect to take advantage of the unlimited access by using more than one program at a time (we have 18 total, addressing head-to-toe pain).

Our approach is very different than the common process of collecting patient fees per visit. The reason we’re different is because we focus solely on quality outcomes, no matter what it takes for each individual. This approach may not be appropriate in a traditional in-person clinic setting, but for SimpleTherapy, it’s our contribution to fixing the problem of escalating healthcare costs. As an online option for pain recovery care, we’re able to pass along much lower costs to those who choose our approach.