10 best resources on … pay for performance in low- and middle-income countries

Pay for performance (P4P) is defined as the transfer of money or material goods conditional on taking a measurable action or achieving a predetermined performance target (Eichler 2006). In recent years, P4P has received considerable attention as an innovative health system model to increase the use, quality and efficiency of health care services in lowand middle-income countries (LMIC). In addition, P4P is considered as a means to progress towards achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (Montagu and Yamey 2011). The term P4P is used interchangeably with other terms such as performance incentives, results-based financing (RBF) and performance-based financing (PBF) (Eichler 2006; Oxman and Fretheim 2008; Witter et al. 2012). P4P schemes can operate on either the supply or demand sides of health service provision (Eichler 2006; Oxman and Fretheim 2008). Incentives can be targeted at: (i) health care recipients, (ii) individual health care providers, (iii) health care facilities, (iv) private sector organizations, and (v) governments or public sector organizations (Oxman and Fretheim 2008). This paper aims to share some of the current resources on the application of P4P in LMIC, highlighting concept papers, systematic reviews, recent empirical studies and debate that are considered to provide a holistic view of P4P schemes. As some of the broadly defined P4P concepts do not consider demand-side P4P (Lagarde et al. 2010), the selection of resources in this article focuses largely on supply-side P4P schemes.