One of the central approaches for quality improvement these days seems to be pay-for-performance (P4P), but its effectiveness doesn't seem to be there. “Overall, P4P contracts were not associated with greater improvement in quality compared to a rising secular trend." Worse, there are unintended consequences – misaligned incentives, for instance, that lead to unnecessary or irrelevant testing or procedures.

See "Pay For Performance (P4P)"

"Forget P4P" was originally published on Sept. 09, 2008