Effect of financial incentives on improvement in medical quality indicators for primary care.

Purpose: The efficacy of rewarding physicians financially for preventive services is unproven. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a physician pay-for-performance program similar to the Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Initiative program on quality of preventive care in a network of community health centers.

Methods: A retrospective review of administrative data was done to evaluate a natural quasi-experiment in a network of publicly funded primary care clinics.