Pay-for-Performance Programs’ Skewed Focus: Only 16% Target Behavioral Health With Minimal Emphasis on Outcomes

OPEN MINDS The Behavioral Health & Social Service Industry Analyst

Science to Service

There are over 150 pay-for-performance (P4P) programs currently operating in the U.S. health care sector, but a comprehensive review conducted by researchers for the National Committee for Quality Assurance and published in the December 2008 issue of Psychiatric Services found that only 24 P4P programs (16%) included any measurement of quality of care for mental or substance use disorders. Of these 24 P4P programs, all included incentive measures targeting the process of care delivery, but . . .