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The existing CPT codes (roughly) pay proportionately to physician time (RVUs). So I wouldn't say there's an an incentive toward delivering care efficiently, but rather hospital management wants to maximize billable hours.

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Oh no, there's both. At least for consultations, there's only 3 inpatient / 5 outpatient levels of CPT codes which work for both complexity and/or time. And patients tend to be pretty complex, so it'd not hard to justify a level 4 or 5 CPT code; any less than that and the patient usually has absolutely nothing wrong with them. And at best, max complexity, Medicare pays, something like $227 per CPT code. So to keep the lights on, you'd better figure out a way to see 14, 16, 20 patients a day...a practice cannot stay afloat if you take 45 mins to an hour to see a level 5 CPT code.

For hospital stays, I may be outdated in this, but Medicare pays a lump sum DRG which doesn't tend to go up much, so the longer the patient is in the hospital, the less money the hospital makes.

Short story is the biggest pressures from the higher-ups is for us to see more volume outpatient, and cut duration of stays inpatient....

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