In the latest salvo in the pay-for-performance wars, Medicare officials released a report on Monday which the agency claims offers conclusive evidence that quality programs improve hospital performance dramatically. CMS will pay $8.5 million in bonuses to hospitals this year. The first data released in a three-year test program at 270 hospitals showed an across-the-board improvement in quality. Critics have argued that pay-for-performance puts undo pressure on hospitals and that the metrics CMS relies on can be misleading.
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