Payment for performance in health care

[First Paragraph] Health service pay is top of the political and media agenda in many countries. In the UK, moral outrage over doctors’ pay - fuelled by the lay media - has contributed to a widespread belief that pay rises have soaked up much of the recent investment in the NHS.1 Doctors’ representatives respond that rising pay reflects rising quality and performance, but doubts remain and even the government has expressed alarm, threatening to cap future rises. Other countries are also grappling with how to pay healthcare professionals, particularly doctors.