Health Affairs, 27, no. 4 (2008): 949-951 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.27.4.949 © 2008 by Project HOPE	New Online   House Health Reform Bill   Paying for Reform   Vetting AHIP's Report   HIV/AIDS Costs   Brief: Insurance Reform   HA Blog Top 10

This Article Full Text (HTML) Reprint (PDF) Submit a response to this article Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Comments are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services E-mail this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My Personal Archive Download to Citation Manager Reprints & Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hsiao, W. C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Hsiao, W. C. Related Collections Health Reform Insurance Coverage International Issues Business Of Health Physicians Insurance Market

Perspective

PERSPECTIVE

When Incentives And Professionalism Collide

As Jin Ma and colleagues observe, an unfettered market approach in China has reduced access to care, increased patients’ financial burden, and reduced emphasis on prevention and may have caused declines in quality and outcomes. A major driving force was that perverse incentives altered physicians’ behavior toward self-interest at the expense of patients, even where professional ethics dictated otherwise. Other nations, including India, are grappling with the profit motive and its consequences. Chinese leaders are attempting to deal with these problems by expanding public investment and reducing perverse incentives. However, profit motives remain a powerful, potentially offsetting feature of a reformed system.

                      What's this?