For services in which the public sector often plays a significant role—such as education, health care, or transportation—the need for improvement is pervasive. "Pay for performance" is an increasingly popular example of an approach that strives to align incentives (such as higher salaries) with goals and measures. Little has been known, however, about whether such approaches are effective at achieving government or agency goals, or whether what works well in one sector will work in another. Join us in learning about a recent RAND assessment of accountability systems in five sectors—child care, education, health care, public health emergency preparedness, and transportation—and about RAND's recommendations for improving them.
Performance-based accountability systems (PBASs) link incentives to measured performance to improve services to the public. Research suggests that PBASs influence provider behaviors, but little is known about PBAS effectiveness at achieving performance goals. This study examines nine PBASs that are drawn from five sectors: child care, education, health care, public health emergency preparedness, and transportation.
