Pay For Success And Population Health: Early Results From Eleven Projects Reveal Challenges And Promise.
Pay for success (PFS) is a type of social impact investing that uses private capital to finance proven prevention programs that help a government reduce public expenditures or achieve greater value. We conducted an analysis of the first eleven PFS projects in the United States to investigate the potential of PFS as a strategy for financing and disseminating interventions aimed at improving population health and health equity. The PFS approach has significant potential for bringing private-sector resources to interventions regarding social determinants of health. Nonetheless, a number of challenges remain, including structuring PFS initiatives so that optimal prevention benefits can be achieved and ensuring that PFS interventions and evaluation designs are based on rigorous research principles. In addition, increased policy attention regarding key PFS payout issues is needed, including the "wrong pockets" problem and legal barriers to using federal Medicaid funds as an investor payout source.
Paula M. Lantz (plantz@umich.edu) is associate dean for academic affairs and a professor of public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor.
Paula M
PM
Lantz
Sara Rosenbaum is the Hirsh Professor and chair of the School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C.
Sara
S
Rosenbaum
Leighton Ku is a professor in the Department of Health Policy at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, and director of the Center for Health Policy Research there.
Leighton
L
Ku
Samantha Iovan is project manager at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
Samantha
S
Iovan
D005381:Financing, Organized / Q000379:methods*; D000069576:Health Equity; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D000075485:Population Health; D017149:Private Sector; D012922:Social Change; D064890:Social Determinants of Health / Q000191:economics; D014481:United States
Pay for Success; Population Health; Public Health; Social Impact Bonds