PROMETHEUS payment: better for patients, better for physicians

Although pay for performance is a positive development in the history of quality improvement in this country, it is generally accepted that most pay-for-performance programs do not offer a sustainable business model. PROMETHEUS Payment is a new approach to provider payment that is predicated on paying for the resources to be brought to bear to treat a patient for a condition in accordance with good clinical practice guidelines. It is explicitly designed to reduce the administrative burden on physicians in favor of improved care coordination and collaboration among providers without requiring them to financially integrate or take insurance risk.