The effect of a hepatitis pay-for-performance program on outcomes of patients undergoing antiviral therapy

Abstract

Background: To examine the effect of a participatory pay-for-performance (P4P) program in Taiwan on health outcomes for patients with severe hepatitis B or C. Methods: This study adopted 4-year panel data from the databases of the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) in Taiwan. Using the caliper matching method to match patients in the P4P (experimental) group with those in the potential comparison group on a one-to-one basis for the year 2010, we tracked patients up to the year 2013 and employed Cox proportionalhazards regression models to evaluate the effect on patient outcomes. Results: The P4P group did not have a lower risk (HR = 0.44, P = 0.05) of hospital admission for seve..