Pay-for-performance: What can you expect?

This article provides information pertaining to pay-for-performance (P4P) in medical practice setting in the United States. Pay-for-performance refers to financial incentive programs that pay bonuses to participants, physicians, physician groups, health plans, or hospitals, that make progress, or attain specific benchmarks, in quality and efficiency. Alternatively, P4P programs may create different tiers of providers based on quality standards, and then give patients financial incentives, such as lower co-payments, to use one tier instead of another. This latter mechanism is currently the subject of an argument between the Barnes Jewish health system in St. Louis and United Healthcare.