About one in three healthcare organizations considered "ahead of the curve" in incorporating quality measures into provider incentive plans have more than 10 percent of physician compensation tied to value- and quality-based performance measures, according to a recent report from Sullivan, Cotter and Associates.
In particular, primary care specialties are seeing more and more of their total cash compensation come from quality and value measures, according to the report, which was based on information from a group of more than 30 large, multispecialty medical groups and health systems with experience using these measures in incentive plans. Of these groups, 70 percent said incentives are paid as a percentage of salary, and almost 60 percent said incentive payments vary across specialty.
Based on the survey, here are the top five specialties with the highest reported use of quality-based performance measures.
1. Internal medicine — 94 percent
2. Hospitalist, internal medicine — 93 percent
3. Family medicine — 90 percent
4. Anesthesiology — 88 percent
5. Diagnostic radiology, interventional — 88 percent
For internal medicine, the specialty with the highest use of quality-based compensation, the top measures were patient experience, preventive health services, tobacco cessation counseling, readmission rates and medication reconciliation.
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