As the nation's largest payer for health care services, Medicare has a major effect on payments to providers. Its ability to align incentives through pay-for-performance will have implications for the health delivery system at large. Proper implementation will require, among many other things, assessment of the adequacy of clinical measures, implementation and improvement of health information technology, and increased provider compliance with public reporting requirements. To discuss these issues, The Commonwealth Fund and the Alliance for Health Reform sponsored a December 15 briefing, "Pay-for Performance and Medicare: Moving from the Drawing Board to the Doctor's Office." Panelists were: Robert Berenson, the Urban Institute; Robert Galvin, General Electric; Alan Nelson, The American College of Physicians; and Gail Wilensky, Project HOPE. Ed Howard of the Alliance moderated the discussion. If you missed this event or would like to review the presentations, please watch our multimedia E-Forum, which offers synched slides and audio from the briefing. For additional information and a link to a webcast courtesy of KaiserNetwork, visit the Alliance Web site.
