States Leading Way on Pay-for-Performance Projects
Almost 85% of state Medicaid programs expect to implement pay-for-performance measures within the next five years, according to a survey released on Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports.
For the survey, the foundation interviewed all 50 state Medicaid directors. The results of the survey "suggest states continue to move faster than the federal government to adopt pay-for-performance measures aimed at encouraging physicians to deliver high-quality health care that is cost effective," AP/Newsday reports.
The American Medical Association and the Institute of Medicine both support pay-for-performance measures.
AMA Chair Cecil Wilson said, "Physicians are dedicated to providing high-quality care to their patients, and pay-for-performance programs may help if they are designed with quality improvement as the primary goal" (Perrone, AP/Long Island Newsday, 4/12).