Pay for Performance (P4P) is a new reimbursement strategy by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS).  Historically, hospitals and physicians were paid regardless of whether or not a patient had a successful.  The new plan hopes to stimulate improved methods of practicing medicine and to limit, if not eliminate, errors and injuries to patients.

This essay outlines the history and rationale for P4P.  As I discuss in the essay, the issues that impact the quality of the care we deliver to our patients is complex.  But as physicians, it is our fiduciary responsibility to insure that the correct structure and processes exists to achieve the most favorable outcomes for our patients.