hat a lovely phrase … pay-for-performance. For those who toil harder, work smarter, go the extra mile, satisfy customers, follow the rules, comply with regulations—the surest incentive of all—more money on payday. The underlying principle of pay-for-performance compensation, now the rage in health care, is the creation of financial incentives that reward quality-improving, cost-saving, and more...

Medicare has sought to improve patient care through pay-for-performance (P4P) programs that better align hospitals’ financial incentives with quality of service. However, the design of these policies is subject to a variety of practical and institutional constraints, such as the use of “small” performance-based incentives. We develop a framework based on a stylized principal-agent model to char...

OBJECTIVE Describing the extent and forms of use of pay for performance (P4P) in Colombian healthcare. METHODS This was a descriptive study based on interviews and surveys of health insurance agency managers in Bogotá, Colombia. The authors relied on transaction cost theory to interpret the results. RESULTS P4P was found to be used by contribution scheme insurers in an outpatient setting, b...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether aligning design characteristics of a pay-for-performance program with objectives of an asthma improvement collaborative builds improvement capability and accelerates improvement. DESIGN Interrupted time series analysis of the impact of pay for performance on results of an asthma improvement collaborative. SETTING Forty-four pediatric practices within greater C...

BACKGROUND "Pay for performance" is an incentive system that has been gaining acceptance in medicine and is currently being considered for implementation in dentistry. However, it remains unclear whether pay for performance can effect significant and lasting changes in provider behavior and quality of care. Provider acceptance will likely increase if pay for performance programs reward true qua...