Pay-for-performance: is medicare a good candidate?

According to one prominent study, adults in the United States receive the generally accepted standard of preventive, acute, and chronic care only about 55% of the time. The likelihood that patients will receive recommended care “varie[s] substantially according to the particular medical condition, ranging from 78.7 percent of recommended care . . . for senile cataract to 10.5 percent of recommended care . . . for alcohol dependence.” Evidence of low-quality care appears in Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly and disabled. Quality of care does not appear to be higher in areas where Medicare spending is higher. In fact, some studies point to the somewhat paradoxical conclusion that