Under typical pay-for-performance programs, practices that serve more vulnerable patient populations would receive lower payments because of quality disparities in the care provided to these groups, according to a Rand news release.
The study suggests that pay-for-performance programs could end up diverting dollars from the communities that need them the most, Mark Friedberg, MD, the study’s lead author, said in the release.
One solution might be offering targeted grants to physicians for caring for medically needy populations to offset these potential disparities, according to the release.
Read the Rand Corp. news release on performance incentives for primary care physicians.
