Capitated reimbursement for medical services returns control of the patient to the surgeon

Limiting the spending on healthcare services is a societal necessity, whether externally budget-driven with reduced fee for service or salary, or internally controlled through prospective payment capitation. No reimbursement system is inherently good or bad. Ethical physicians will place patient well-being first and focus on the delivery of quality care, regardless of the payment method. There are several methods for the distribution of capitation payments to physicians, each with different levels of financial incentive to provide services. In one fully evolved embodiment of capitation, a payer carves out the entire orthopedic disease segment and contracts with an orthopedic organization for all musculoskeletal services within a defined geographic region. This form of capitation offers the advantage of returning control of patient care to the orthopedic surgeon.