Pay for performance targets do not improve patient health

PA 25/11 Pay for performance targets set for GPs in the UK are failing to improve the health of patients with high blood pressure. The new study, which presents the strongest evidence yet that pay for performance does not offer any benefit, was carried out by Dr Brian Serumaga, a Harvard Medical School fellow in Pharmaceutical Policy Research in the Division of Primary Care and School of Pharmacy at The University of Nottingham. Working with a team of experts from the UK, Canada and the USA Dr Serumaga's research focused on patients with hypertension (high blood pressure). The results of his research, which involved nearly half a million patients, are published tonight Tuesday January 25 2011 in the online journal bmj.com. Around half of people aged over 50 have hypertension, which is one of the most treatable, but undertreated cardiovascular risk factors. Hypertension is the most common reason for a visit to the doctors in the UK, US and Canada. The Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) for general practice is a voluntary system of financial incentives, which has been in place since 2004 and part of this programme includes specific targets for GPs to demonstrate high quality care for patients with hypertension and other diseases.