--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Doctors and hospitals should be paid for…" description: "\"Doctors and hospitals should be paid for keeping their patients well. Paying them for doing more tests and surgeries creates bad incentives.\" — Richard..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e0/richard-thaler-3060_bad_doctors-and-hospitals-should-be-paid-for_1971690.png" --- # Doctors and hospitals should be paid for keeping their… ![“Doctors and hospitals should be paid for keeping their patients well. Paying them for doing more tests and surgeries creates bad incentives.” quote by Richard Thaler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e0/richard-thaler-3060_bad_doctors-and-hospitals-should-be-paid-for_1971690.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e0/richard-thaler-3060_bad_doctors-and-hospitals-should-be-paid-for_1971690.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e0/richard-thaler-3060_bad_doctors-and-hospitals-should-be-paid-for_1971690.png) > “Doctors and hospitals should be paid for keeping their patients well. Paying them for doing more tests and surgeries creates bad incentives.” [Richard Thaler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-thaler/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Compensating healthcare providers for outcomes rather than procedures aligns incentives with patient health, reducing unnecessary tests. **In simple terms:** Pay for health, not tests. Key Takeaway Shift payment to outcomes. Themes healthcare economics incentives ethics Mood analytical concerned Type policy economic When to use this quote - hospital administration - policy reform Key Concepts payment models patient care Questions to Reflect On - How to measure health outcomes fairly? - What safeguards prevent gaming? A Different Perspective Implementation can be complex. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad/) [Bad Incentives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-incentives-3315003/) [Doctors Hospitals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doctors-hospitals-3315004/) [Doing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doing/) [Health](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/health/) [Hospitals Paid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hospitals-paid-1970970/) [Keeping Patients](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/keeping-patients-705030/) [Medicine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/medicine/) [More](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/more/) [Patience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patience/) [Patients Paying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patients-paying-3315002/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Well](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/well/) ## Related quotes > [“Nothing much will change until we pay doctors and hospitals when they appropriately do less as well as we do when they inappropriately do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katy-butler/nothing-much-will-change-until-we-pay-doctors-and-hospitals-when-they/) [Katy Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katy-butler/) > [By keeping patients awake for longer, we build up a strong sleep pressure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-walker/by-keeping-patients-awake-for-longer-we-build-up-a-strong-sleep/) [Matthew Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-walker/) > [Hospitals should be paid to keep patients out of the hospital, not for signing up more and more patients.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-heineman/hospitals-should-be-paid-to-keep-patients-out-of-the-hospital-not-for/) [Matthew Heineman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-heineman/) > [“I intend to study love as well as medicine, for it is one of the most mysterious and remarkable diseases that afflict mankind, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-intend-to-study-love-as-well-as-medicine-for-it-is-one-of-the-most/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Antidepressants are the biggest fraud in the world. 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