I have to give credit to Medscape for publishing arguments against pay for performance (P4P) in the form of a point-counterpoint piece.
Dr. Robert M Centor, professor at University of Alabama and president elect of the Society of General Internal Medicine (and well known blogger) presented a well reasoned discussion pointing out concerns and problems regarding P4P.I believe internists and family physicians who populate the real world of patient care will be heartened by the position he presented.
Dr. Michael S.Barr,one of the vice presidents of the American College of Physicians, was assigned the job of delivering the ACP party line and what appeared to me to be a rather luke warm defense of P4P-"Many physicians have indicated significant concerns about P4P, and rightly so."
Barr does not address the points made by Centor(in fairness this was not a debate with time for rebuttals) but relies on giving a version of recent history of the issue which as usual begins with a mandatory reference to the seemingly-above-challenge "Crossing the Quality Chasm " authored by the IOM and advice to physicians to "reframe their thinking."
No doubt, there are thoughtful physicians and others who believe the P4P will improve quality but I cannot but think that the major driver for this movement is to reduce costs. The major players in that regard are the government, insurance and HMOs and with their resources seem to dominate the debate and have largely defined the universe of discourse regarding the issue.(Note-even I have given up bothering to put quotes around the word quality.)
Dr.Centor, in his role at the Society of General Internal Medicine,does have a forum to express his views and I applaud his efforts and hope others can join the fray.
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