Disclosing physician pay-for-performance incentives to patients did not alter patients’ trust in their primary care physicians, found a study published in Archives of Internal Medicine involving 9,000 patients at two multispecialty groups in Boston and Los Angeles. Researchers sent half the patients a letter from the groups’ chief medical officers explaining that their physicians received a flat salary in addition to financial incentives based on patient load, quality of care, and patient satisfaction. Three months later when the patient were surveyed, those who had received disclosure letters expressed an increased loyalty to their physician group and no lack of trust in their personal physician. According to the study, disclosure of pay-for-performance compensation programs may be one way to solidify relationships between physicians and patients.
