Medicare moves to pay for performance for docs

Medicaid is deciding to pay doctors a bonus for performance measures. It seems that the bonus is quite small, 1.5 percent. In pediatrics this would translate to a couple of dollars for a visit. In other specialties as aneshesia and surgery it is clear how this performance may be measured... But in a specialty as pediatrics... Hmmm... Did your doctor take a good history and physical? Did your doctor come up with the right diagnosis? Did your doctor prescribe the right medicine? Did your pediatrician actually see you in the office vs a nurse practitioner?? I'm curious to see how this will play out in pediatrics. What I found when I converted my practice over to the Personal Pediatrics affiliate Program is that it actually costs less money to see medicaid patients for free. Most affiliates will keep a small percentage of medicaid patients 10 percent or so, and just do it pro bono. Now keeping up with these performance measures and reporting them to medicaid, I feel confident that this will cost the private pediatrics practicioner well more than the meager 1.5 percent bonus. The Personal Pediatrics system with its low overhead and affiliations with Operation Smile and Doctors Without Borders enable affiliates to actually take time off and contribute also to World Pediatric Health Issues without it costing 20 grand a month in overhead. Now this is the Pediatrician of the Past and Future...Today. Natalie Hodge MD Affiliate St. Louis