I'm not familiar with that payment model. It sounds interesting/bad to me, depending on how it plays out in real life. You are compensated the same for each encounter type. So, even though it takes much less time, a followup is the same as an admit, because each is considered an "encounter." This model incentivizes doing followups, which means keeping people in the hospital longer. An unscrupulous physician might purposely extend hospital stays, either through simply not recommending discharge until a later date, or perhaps even going slower with medication titration so the patient gets better less quickly. Additionally, a physician with all his scruples, and no manipulative intentions, might do these things subconsciously. On the flip side, I think our current system of ultra brief admissions (3 days for depression) is probably too short, so this might actually create a system with better patient care.
