New general practitioner payment formula in Croatia: is it consistent with worldwide trends?

We describe the history of general practitioner payment in Croatia, and assess the extent to which recent trends are consistent with developments in other countries. We provide a definition of a classification of payment methods, and summarization of the evidence about their merits as described in international literature and an outline of the history of payment methods in Croatia, with emphasis on the changes proposed for 2004. We conclude that the introduction of performance-based payment, as an adjunct to the capitation payments, is consistent with trends in well-managed health systems in other countries. However, we argue that the changes need to be incorporated into a long-term strategy, and we suggest some elements including refinement of the capitation payment risk adjustment.