Study: Physicians say P4P would harm care

While they agree that pay for performance approaches can improve care, about three-quarters of primary care physicians worry that public data reporting would have a negative impact on patient relationships, according to a new study published this month in Health Affairs. The research, which involved a survey of 550 randomly chosen general internists, concluded that physicians weren't satisfied that P4P schemes would measure the right factors in the right way. While most PCPs felt that physicians should be rewarded for providing high quality care--provided that the measurements were accurate--less than one-third felt that current measures would do the trick. A majority (66 percent) felt that health plans and the government were unlikely to exert the effort to make such measures accurate. Roughly eight out of ten worried that pay for performance schemes would force doctors to avoid high-risk patients--or even kick such patients out of their practices.

To find out more about the research:
- read this United Press International article

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