The NHS financial regime: cleverly flexible or horribly messy?

The NHS financial regime: cleverly flexible or horribly messy? The broad theory behind the NHS financial regime set out in the 2012 Health and Social Care Act built on experience garnered over the previous decade. Autonomous local commissioners would lay contracts with similarly autonomous providers (on a level playing field between NHS and private providers), paid for at nationally set prices (tariffs). These tariffs already existed (mostly for the acute sector) or were meant to progressively expand to cover a wider array of services. The King's Fund