Financial incentives for murder
Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) payments are a framework that rewards healthcare providers for improving the quality of care they provide. CQUIN payments link a portion of a provider's income to their achievement of national and local quality improvement goals.
| CQUIN payments | |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Encourage providers to improve the quality of care and achieve transparency |
| How it works | Providers are funded upfront, but commissioners can claw back some of the payment if providers don't meet the metrics |
| Examples of metrics | Vaccinating staff against the flu, switching intravenous antimicrobial treatment to oral administration, and identifying frailty in emergency departments |
| Proposed changes for 2024/25 | NHS England proposes to suspend clawback arrangements, so providers would no longer be at risk of losing income associated with CQUIN achievement |
The CQUIN framework was set up in 2009/2010.
CQUIN payment framework
The Dementia CQUIN payment will be triggered in three stages:
- the case finding of 90% of all patients aged 75 and over following admission to hospital, using the dementia case finding question and identification of all those with delirium and dementia,
- the diagnostic assessment and investigation of 90% of those patients who have been assessed as ‘at-risk’ of dementia from the dementia case finding question and presence of delirium, and
- the referral of 90% of those for specialist diagnosis of dementia and appropriate follow up.[1]
CQUIN payments to care homes and hospitals
The Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) is a program that encourages healthcare providers to improve the quality of care they deliver. The program is offered to providers that deliver services under the NHS Standard Contract, including care homes.
Details
How it works
A proportion of a healthcare provider's income is conditional on achieving quality improvement and innovation goals.
Purpose
To reward excellence, encourage continuous quality improvement, and deliver better outcomes for patients.
Who it's offered to
All independent and third sector providers, unless they have decided to apply the small value contracts exemption.
What's included
Mandatory national CQUINs along with those agreed between the provider and its commissioners.
What it encourages
Providers to share and continually improve how care is delivered.
The mandatory CQUIN scheme has been paused, but non-mandatory quality indicators are available on the FutureNHS Collaboration Platform.