The PPACA focused on improving quality while lowering costs. When the _________ was established, it offered financial incentives to hospitals to improve the quality of care delivered.

• A. ACO
• B. VBP
• C. DRG
• D. P4P

Answer: (B)

Value-Based Purchasing ties Medicare payments to hospital quality performance. When PPACA established this program, hospitals could earn higher payments or face penalties based on how well they performed on quality metrics such as safety, clinical outcomes, patient experience, and efficiency. This shift—from paying for services rendered to paying for value delivered—creates a direct financial incentive for hospitals to invest in quality improvement. While other concepts like accountable care organizations also aim to improve value and pay-for-performance is a broader idea used in various programs, the specific PPACA mechanism that offered hospital-level financial incentives for quality is Value-Based Purchasing. Diagnosis-related groups are a payment method based on diagnoses, not a quality-incentive program.