Søren Rud Kristensen,et al
N Engl J Med 2014; 371:540-548 August 7, 2014
- A pay-for-performance program, Advancing Quality, was introduced in all hospitals in the northwest region of England in 2008 and was associated with a short-term (18-month) reduction in mortality.
- The study, looked at three conditions for which patients are admitted to hospital in an emergency; heart attack, pneumonia, and heart failure and examined deaths occurring within 30 days of admission to hospital, comparing the 24 hospitals in the North West with 137 in the rest of England. See short term findings here: NEJM 2012 report.
- This research demonstrates that while the quality of care continued to increase over the following two years, there was no further reduction in patient deaths in the region covered by the programme over that observed in the rest of England. The reduction in mortality among patients with these conditions was greater in the control hospitals than in the participating hospitals. By the end of the 42-month follow-up period, the reduced mortality in the participating hospitals was no longer significant.
- Short-term relative reductions in mortality for conditions linked to financial incentives in hospitals participating in a pay-for-performance program in England were not maintained.
- Read the University of Manchester press release here.
