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Performance Improvement Recognition: Private Providers of Reproductive Health Services in Peru

While pay-for-performance incentives are frequently used in human resource management programs, there is less knowledge of, and experience with, alternative incentives for recognizing provider achievements in improving quality—especially in the private health sector. This report identifies which types of recognition mechanisms private providers prefer and provides recommendations for Peru and other countries on implementing a quality improvement (QI) program with a recognition component.

In addition to determining provider level of interest in such a program, the study set out to determine: (1) how private providers value different types of recognition, (2) what recognition mechanisms should be used for different types of private providers, and (3) what institutional platform is most appropriate. Researchers surveyed three groups of networked and non-networked general practitioners, obstetricians and gynecologists (ob/gyns), and midwives in three locations. The research found a nearly universal interest in a QI program with a recognition component, and that providers value continuing education in quality, both as a means of self-improvement and as a way to improve patient care.