Application of fuzzy MCDM to establishing a new fee schedule for orthopaedic procedures in a National Health Insurance program

The purpose of this research is to construct a model for establishing a new, rational fee schedule for orthopaedic procedures in a National Health Insurance (NHI) program. A Fuzzy Multiple Criteria Decision‐Making (FMCDM) model is proposed. The relative value of 12 orthopaedic procedures was obtained through an empirical study based on the FMCDM model. In the FMCDM model, under the goal of setting a ‘new fee schedule for orthopaedic procedures’, there are four aspects in the first tier of evaluation factors, 16 criteria in the second tier and 12 orthopaedic procedures in the third tier. The new fee schedule obtained from the FMCDM model is more convincing than previous schedule and more persuasive to the references for the policy setting.