Pay-for-performance programs are meant to incentivise care that is safe, effective, patient-centred, timely, efficient and equitable. However, very little convincing evidence exists connecting pay-for-performance programs to these goals even though pay-for-performance, and other financial incentive mechanisms, have been widely applied for many years now.
This issues brief will assess efficiency, quality, and safety of the Australian pay-for-performance standards by comparing it with the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom standards. The brief also believes that the only way to expand pay-for-performance and other types of financial incentive programs in Australia is through a political call as there is not enough high-quality evidence to guide policymaking in this area of field.