An Environmental Scan of Pay for Performance in the Hospital Setting: Final Report

Section 5001(b) of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 requires the Secretary to develop a plan to implement a value- based purchasing program for payments under Medicare for subsectioin (d) hospitals beginning with fiscal year 2009. To inform the development of the plan, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in collaboratioin with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services contracted with RAND to conduct an environmental scan of hospital pay for performance programs. This report presents the results from the environmental scan, includes a review of the empirrical evidence about the impact of these hospital programs, a description of program design features and a summary of lessons learned from currently operating hospital programs. [182 PDF pages]