Paying for performance in health care. Implications for health system performance and accountability (2014)

Edited by Cheryl Cashin, Y-Ling Chi, Peter Smith, Michael Borowitz and Sarah Thomson
Published by Open University Press
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies Series
2014, xxi + 312 pages
ISBN 978 033526438 4
£29.99

Health spending continues to outstrip the economic growth of most member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Pay for performance (P4P) has been identified as an innovative tool to improve the efficiency of health systems but evidence that it increases value for money, boosts quality or improves health outcomes is limited.

Using a set of case studies from 12 OECD countries (including Estonia, France, Germany, Turkey and the United Kingdom), this book explores whether the potential power of P4P has been over-sold, or whether the disappointing results to date are more likely to be rooted in problems of design and implementation or inadequate monitoring and evaluation.

Each case study analyses the design and implementation of decisions, including the role of stakeholders; critically assesses objectives versus results; and examines the “net” impacts, including positive spillover effects and unintended consequences.
With experiences from both high and middle-income countries, in primary and acute care settings, and both national and pilot programmes, these studies provide health finance policy-makers in diverse settings with a nuanced assessment of P4P programmes and their potential impact on the performance of health systems.