title: The appropriate uses of bundled or episode of illness classification systems.
abstract: Health care reform's foremost challenge is to reduce overall cost trends. Episodes of care are one strategy to promote accountability for cost efficiency and quality improvement and are referred to 10 times in the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act. This article outlines the strengths and limitations of 3 types of episodes for both payment and/or profiling.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Internal Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York 10027, USA. richard.bernstein@vnsny.org
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.forename: Norbert
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Goldfield
mesh_terms: D060866:Accountable Care Organizations; D003363:Cost Control / Q000379:methods; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D017050:Episode of Care; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000191:economics; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States