A review of three journal articles shows the significant impact that poverty has on physical and mental health status, as well as all causes of mortality.
Appropriate use of the pay-for-performance system may improve quality of care by counteracting physician incentives to overtreat in fee-for-service situations or undertreat in capitation plans.
To be a useful tool for assessing quality of physician care, pay-for-performance must be designed to include process measures and to not penalize physicians for treating patients with difficult-to-manage conditions.
Health practitioners can help reduce health disparities if they consider the implications and affect that patients' geographical location has on their health.