Just north of Denver, Jefferson County has become a battleground in the fight over performance-based pay for teachers.  The recently elected school board plans on implementing “[a] compensation system that recognizes and rewards our great teachers,” according to school board president Ken Witt.  The response of the local teachers’ union was for teachers to call in sick and enlist students in protesting what they describe as a proposed “patriotic curriculum.” The protests are a convenient way to discredit the school board, thwarting them from implementing what the union truly fears: performance-based pay. In the world of health care, performance-based pay measures are already being implemented.  The Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) will adjust physician Medicare payments up or down, based on specific quality measures.  Meeting these measures will give physicians a payment bonus of 0.5%.  Conversely, if such measures...(Read Full Post)