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Healthcare Management vocabulary · Health Insurance and Reimbursement

Fee-for-service

Meaning in healthcare management, with examples

nounCommon term

In healthcare management, fee-for-service means: A payment method in which providers are paid separately for each visit, test or procedure they carry out.

In Turkish: hizmet başı ödeme, işlem başı ödeme

How it is used

Often written FFS. Critics say fee-for-service rewards volume rather than results, because more procedures mean more income; this is one reason many systems are moving towards capitation, case-based or value-based payment. It is hyphenated: a fee-for-service model.

Example sentences

  1. Under fee-for-service, a hospital earns more when it does more tests, even unnecessary ones.

  2. Most of our private insurance contracts are still on a fee-for-service basis.

Common collocations

  • fee-for-service model
  • fee-for-service payment
  • on a fee-for-service basis
  • move away from fee-for-service
  • capitationA payment method in which a provider receives a fixed amount for each registered person over a period, whether or not that person uses any care.
  • DRGShort for diagnosis-related group: a category of hospital cases with similar diagnoses and procedures, used to pay hospitals a fixed amount per case.
  • value-based careA way of organising and paying for healthcare that rewards providers for the health results they achieve for patients relative to cost, not for the number of services.
  • reimbursementThe money that an insurer or public payer pays a hospital or doctor for care already given to a patient, according to agreed rules and prices.

More terms: Health Insurance and Reimbursement

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.