Surgeons usually receive a single payment for the surgery and postoperative care. This bundling, or payment per episode, gives surgeons an economic incentive to.

Question

Options

• ALimit both the number of surgeries they perform and the number of post operative visits they make.
• BIncrease both the number of surgeries and the number of post operative visits.
• CLimit the number of surgeries and increase the number of post operative visits.
• DIncrease the number of surgeries and limit the number of post operative visits.

• A
  10% (3)
• B
  3% (1)
• C
  13% (4)
• D
  74% (23)

Explanation

Option D is correct because a bundled payment is a fixed fee covering both the surgery and all follow-up care. Each new surgery performed generates a new bundled payment (revenue), so surgeons are economically motivated to perform more surgeries. However, post-operative visits are already paid for within that fixed bundle - time spent on post-op visits costs the surgeon effort without additional income - so they are incentivized to minimize those visits.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A is wrong because limiting surgeries would reduce total revenue - there's no incentive to turn down new bundled payments.
• B is wrong because increasing post-op visits only adds cost (time, overhead) with no added payment, making it economically irrational.
• C is wrong because limiting surgeries cuts income, while increasing post-op visits adds unpaid work - both moves hurt the surgeon financially.

Memory tip: Think "sell more packages, deliver less after-service." The surgeon profits by opening as many new bundles as possible (more surgeries) while spending minimally on what's already included in the package (fewer post-op visits).

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