Rewarding Physicians for Their Patients' Health Outcomes: What Can Medicare Learn from Education's Value-Added Models?

This working paper examines how value-added models of performance measurement used in education can apply to health care when measuring and rewarding physician performance, particularly in the Medicare system. The paper finds that value-added models used to measure teacher effects on student test scores may have useful applications in Medicare because the models provide opportunities to identify impacts on outcomes while controlling for factors that are beyond physicians' control, such as severity of illness or adherence to a treatment plan. The working paper also identifies limitations and challenges associated with value-added measures and discusses potential approaches to address these challenges.