Pay for Performance

Pay-for-Performance Jamie D Knutter HCS/531: Health Care Organizations and Delivery Systems October 1st, 2012 Instructor: Doreen Gounaris Pay-for-Performance “Pay for performance has become a central strategy in the drive to improve health care” (Joynt, Jha, Orav, & Epstein, 2012, p. 1606). There are many aspects of pay-for-performance. These aspects include; effects of reimbursement by this approach, the impact cost reductions has on quality and efficiency of health care, the affects to the providers and patients, the effect on the future of health care. Currently an estimate of half of all Medicaid programs operated with a form of the pay-for- performance approach, and of the programs not operating such approaches 85% have intentions of doing so in the next five years (Briesacher, Field, Baril, & Gurwitz, 2009). Pay-for-performance is inevitable with The Affordable Care Act (Werner, Kolstad, Stuart, & Polsky, 2011). The pay- for- performance approach is useful in promoting hospital care improvements (Lindenauer, Remus, Roman, Rothberg, et al, 2007). Pay- for- performance is an approach constructed to reward providers through reimbursements (Briesacher, Field, Baril, & Gurwitz, 2009). These reimbursements being given when high levels of performance or improvements of performance are attained (Briesacher, Field, Baril, & Gurwitz, 2009). “Pay for performance means a variable pay approach that is anchored to a measurement of performance…” (Wiscombe, 2001, p. 28). “Pay-for-performance reimbursement has become a popular and growing form of health care payment built on the belief that payment incentives strongly affect medical providers’ behavior (Mayes & Walradt, 2011, p. 39). The goal is by paying high performers higher reimbursements they will provide better care with an increase in quality (Mayes & Walradt, 2011). Another goal is