Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress NHS Improvement and NHS England have made in developing new (1) outcomes-based, and (2) capitated budget, reimbursement models for the provision of specialised services.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are working on a number of different reimbursement models for specialised services. The actual payment model will depend on the characteristics of the service, and an assessment of the approach likely to be most conducive to improved patient outcomes. NHS England and NHS Improvement are exploring models built on payment based on episodes of care, on the fixed costs of providing a service, or on the adoption of a pathway or year of care payment model.

NHS England and NHS Improvement are also working with the New Care Model Vanguards to develop a capitation-type payment model, called a Whole Population Budget, which could also be used to reimburse specialised services.