Medicare to reward physicians, hospitals.

By Marguerite Higgins, The Washington Times Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Feb. 1--Medicare will reward doctors and hospital systems with bonuses for improving patient health while lowering overall costs as part of a new incentive program announced yesterday.

Dr. Mark B. McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs Medicare, introduced the program yesterday at the World Health Care Congress, a conference for health care executives and policy-makers in Washington.

Medicare, which provides health care for seniors and disabled Americans, will start the program on April 1 with 10 physicians groups …