Every time you see a doctor, somebody has already decided how they get paid for it — and that decision can shape what happens next. Fee-for-service rewards doing more and capitation rewards doing less, but the incentives get more complex, with payors, healthcare delivery organizations, and regulators trying to enforce standards. Sitting in the exam room, naked under a gown, you want what’s best for your health, not someone else’s business model.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Imran Junaid, who’s practiced medicine on nearly every side of this problem — a capitated system, his own fee-for-service group, and building outcomes-based care sold to health plans. He helps us work through how these models actually shape the care you get, why the “obvious” fixes tend to grow their own problems, and who quietly wins and loses under each one.

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Imran Junaid