(Wiley Blackwell: Woodland Hills, CA) -- Pay-for-performance (P4P) programs are payment models that reward workers for meeting certain performance measures for quality and efficiency. In the health care setting, P4P programs use a variety of methods to reward physicians financially for achieving targets, including fee differentials and bonuses.

A new study in the Journal for Healthcare Quality reveals that P4P programs appear to be effective in incentivizing low-performing physicians. The article is part of the January/February 2010 special issue on pay-for-performance in the health care system.

According to the article, studies have shown that the lowest performing physicians in P4P programs improved the most; however, it was unclear whether this would have occurred without the P4P program or if it could be sustained.

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