Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2007) 13: 7-9. doi: 10.1192/apt.bp.106.003111
© 2007 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in APT
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Oyebode, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Oyebode, F.

Payment by volume (not results)

INVITED COMMENTARY ON... PAYMENT BY RESULTS IN MENTAL HEALTH{dagger}

Femi Oyebode

Femi Oyebode is Professor and Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Birmingham (Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital, Mindelsohn Way, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2QZ, UK. Email: Femi.Oyebode{at}sbmht.wmids.nhs.uk). He was Chief Examiner of the Royal College of Psychiatrists from 2002 to 2005.

Payment by results, a system for paying healthcare trusts, is intended as a fair and consistent basis for hospital funding. It relies on a national tariff structured around a case-mix measure known as healthcare resource groups. It is often argued that if payment by results works as planned, the National Health Service will become more efficient and productive. However, the use of a case-mix measure, the healthcare resource group, which derives from the diagnostic related (or diagnosis-related) group, has attendant problems. These include the risk that the payment structure will be inaccurate, unfair and liable to cause the financial destabilisation of trusts. There is also the risk that healthcare institutions will falsify patient classifications (‘up-coding’) to ensure higher remuneration. It has been argued that payment by results may be particularly unsuited to psychiatry. The ability of healthcare resource groups to accurately predict resource use in psychiatry is doubtful. In conclusion, mental health trusts will need to adapt to payment by results but there will inevitably be losers.


Related articles in APT:

Payment by results in mental health: the current state of play in England
Andrew Fairbairn
APT 2007 13: 3-6. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

Choice: wake up and smell the coffee!: INVITED COMMENTARY ON... CHOICE IN MENTAL HEALTH
Frank Holloway
APT 2007 13: 68-69. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

Choice in mental health: myths and possibilities
Koravangattu Menon Valsraj and Nichola Gardner
APT 2007 13: 60-67. [Abstract] [Full Text]  



This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Psychiatr. Bull.Home page
P. St John-Smith, D. McQueen, A. Michael, G. Ikkos, C. Denman, M. Maier, R. Tobiansky, H. Pathmanandam, T. Davies, V. S. Babu, et al.
The trouble with NHS psychiatry in England
Psychiatr. Bull., June 1, 2009; 33(6): 219 - 225.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]