SPOTLIGHT: Is P4P focusing on the right things?

Payers want good outcomes at low cost, but what do patients want, asks Kaveh Safavi, M.D., chief medical officer of consulting firm Solucient. In this article, which originally ran in the Journal of Healthcare Management, Safavi observes that patients expect good outcomes the way they expect safe plane travel, and they measure "good" performance in terms of doctor-patient communication and responsive nurses. In consumer-driven healthcare, non-technical criteria will take a front seat--but you have to have good outcomes, too. Article