A pay-for-performance program in primary care practices improved quality for minority patients, according to a study in Quality Management in Health Care.
Researchers analyzed how pay-for-performance programs in 22 primary care practice sites affected the quality of care among minority patient groups. From 2007 to 2009, the primary care practices made improvement in each of the five composite quality domains: diabetes, coronary artery disease, heart failure, screening and prevention and all care.
Except for heart failure care for Hispanic/Latino and Spanish language-preferring patients, improvements in each domain occurred for African American/black race, Hispanic/Latino ethnicity and Spanish language-preferred groups.
After adjusting for covariates, pay-for-performance was associated with improvement in diabetes care, screening and prevention and a composite for overall care, according to the study.
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