Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) launched the Primary Care Benefit 1 (PCB1) package in April 1, 2012. This insurance is an enhancement of the Corporation's Outpatient Benefit (OPB) package. PCB1 aims to improve the utilization of the outpatient package as well as the quality and efficiency of health services. It shifted the payment mechanism from a capitation payment scheme tied solely on the enrollment of sponsored members to a performance based payment scheme. A critical challenge for PhilHealth in implementing the PCB 1 is the devolution of health services to the Local Govemment Units (LGUs). The role of patients is also considered as a key to activate the causal chain in quality improvement through a payment for performance (P4P) scheme. Recognizing the opportunities and to address the challenges for more effective delivery of PCB 1 services, PhilHealth is collaborating with researchers from the World Bank and the Impact Evaluation Lab of the Korean Development Institute School for a randomized evaluation of supplementary interventions to the PCB1. This study is called Impact of Incentives and Information on Quality and Utilization in Primary Care (I3QUiP).The evaluation results will help PhilHealth improve the implementation of PCB1 for a more effective partnership in the delivery of quality health services. Researchers are examining the impact of three measures being implemented: direct payments to providers with increased autonomy on the distribution of the amount, increased disclosure of information, combination of direct payments and increased disclosure of information. The baseline survey was conducted from April to June 2014, collecting information from 240 local government units (municipalities or cities).
