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Study: Pay-for-performance did not reduce deaths in Medicare pilot program

By Chelsea Conaboy

 |  Globe Staff  

  March 29, 2012

A large Medicare pilot program that paid hospitals more if they consistently hit certain quality targets did not reduce the number of patients who died within 30 days of admission to the hospital, a study published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine found. The results are “sobering,” the study authors wrote, given that the program served as a model for a major national initiative being rolled out this year.

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