News / Consultation sets out mental health payment approaches

Two payment approaches have been proposed for adult and older people’s mental healthcare in 2016/17. A consultation, issued by Monitor and NHS England, said one approach would be based on year of care or episode of treatment, as appropriate to each cluster. The second is based on capitation – this would be informed by care cluster data as well as other evidence on need and costs.

Under both approaches an element of payment should be based on the achievement of agreed quality and outcome measures. Under local payment rules, it would still be possible for commissioners and providers to agree an alternative payment mechanism, though this must be consistent with current arrangements for agreeing a price without using a national currency.

The consultation closes on 19 November. If you would like to contribute to the HFMA response email [email protected].
​

• The Department of Health confirmed its proposal to abolish the share of supply threshold in the tariff objection mechanism, even though 65% of respondents to a consultation on the change, including 90% of providers, opposed its removal. The Department noted concern over financial stability and said it would look into introducing multi-year tariffs with NHS England and Monitor.