International experiences on pay-for-performance programs and implications for China / 中国卫生政策研究

ABSTRACT

In the past decade, pay-for-performance (P4P) programs in the health care sector have been im-plemented throughout the world. These programs differ in their design, as they have different targets ( hospitals or physicians) and different performance sectors incentivised. P4P has also been introduced to Chinese hospitals re-cently. This article reviews major P4P initiatives (programs of the U. K. , U. S. , France, etc. ) and collects common design factors for analysis ( targets, quality measures, incentive schemes, performance benchmarks, etc. ) . The pros and cons of each design factor are discussed, and some inevitable empirical pitfalls are also reviewed. It is anticipa-ted that such international experiences can provide possible future reference for the Chinese hospital remuneration re-form.