Pay-for-performance programs: Are they worth it?

Pay-for-performance programs are proliferating: A projected 155 P4P programs are expected to be in place this year, compared with just 39 in 2003, according to data from the health-care informatics group Med-Vantage and the Leapfrog Group. Yet some question the value of this growth.

Government officials, for example, have taken issue with these programs: New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo expressed concern that these programs could "steer patients to less-expensive rather than high-quality providers," reported Modern Healthcare (9/3/2007). And many physicians already oppose P4P programs; they see these programs as a means to pay doctors less.

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