What payment model involves services being paid for separately?

The payment model where services are paid for separately is known as Fee for Services. In this model, healthcare providers receive individual payments for each specific service or procedure they perform. This can include everything from office visits and diagnostic tests to surgical procedures. The key aspect of this model is that costs are not bundled; instead, each service is billed individually, allowing providers to directly correlate their income with the number of services delivered.

In the context of patient advocacy and healthcare delivery, understanding the Fee for Services model is important because it reflects an episode of care approach, where the focus may be on volume rather than value. This could have implications for patient care, potentially leading to a greater number of services ordered without necessarily improving patient outcomes.

The other models, such as capitation and global payment, involve different structures where payments are made based on a set fee rather than the individual services provided. Capitation offers a fixed payment per patient regardless of the number of services rendered, and global payment involves a lump sum payment for a defined set of services over a specified period. Health insurance itself isn’t a payment model; rather, it is the mechanism through which various payment models, including Fee for Services, are implemented. Understanding these distinctions is essential for effective patient advocacy and navigating