AMA: Delegates Want Principles First with Pay for Performance

If you see the movie Sicko, the physicians in the UK receive bonuses for creating better health care and I'm not aware of the criteria that is needed, but P4P seems to be something created to go in this direction, but again, administration of the criteria is the big question and HMO criteria administration tends to cloud the issues when bonus money is at stake for both providers and management staff. BD

CHICAGO, June 27 -- The American Medical Association wants third-party payers to put the brakes on pay-for-performance initiatives until there is evidence that such plans benefit patients.
Moreover, after five hours of debate -- often over the addition or deletion of a single word -- the AMA's House of Delegates said that it will "actively oppose" any pay-for-performance programs that do not meet the AMA's five pay-for-performance principles.
Adopted in 2005, those principles specify that programs should ensure quality of care, foster the patient/physician relationship, offer voluntary physician participation, use accurate data and fair reporting, and provide fair and equitable program incentives.
"We don't want a seat at the table," responded, Marcy Zwelling, M.D., a delegate from Los Alamitos, Calif. "We want to stand on the table."