Getting your arms around the current state of risk-based, value-based, and performance-based reimbursement in the health care field is no simple task. But the recently-released market analysis—APM Measurement Progress Of Alternative Payment Models—does a good job of both definitions and measuring market movement.

Essentially, there are four types of reimbursement—three of them grounded in traditional fee-for-service (FFS). These range from traditional volume based FFS and FFS with bonuses. There are also FFS-based alternative payment methodologies (APMs) with ‘shared savings’ and, sometimes, downside financial risk. The fourth approach is population-based payments with capitations, case rates, and other non-FFS reimbursement methodologies. The last two categories count as ‘value-based’ or ‘risk-based’ reimbursement.

There was not a lot of year-to-year change. In 2024,…