PAY FOR PERFORMANCE (P4P)

In 1998, the health care bubble burst when journalists reported a startling finding. More than 98,000 needless deaths occurred each year as a result of avoidable mistakes due to complications from the wrong medication, injuries to patients from falls or neglect, missed diagnoses, and poorly coordinated care.

A report from the Institute of Medicine, To Err is Human, triggered a series of studies (Crossing the Quality Chasm 2001, The Quality of Health Care Delivered to Adults in the U.S. 2003, Implications of Regional Variations in Medicare Spending 2003, The State of Healthcare Quality 2004) whose findings showed the health care delivery system falls short in delivering high quality, evidence-based care.

Physicians were only adhering to evidence based guidelines 55 percent of the time, where someone lived correlated closely to the quality of care received, quality of care varied from health plan to health plan, and most publicly available information was confusing.

More Pay For Higher Quality

Financial incentives are being put in place to save lives and improve outcomes. Each physician must be prepared to change the way they deliver care, and the willingness to get there is what separates the successful from the disadvantaged.