Sara Mohammadi, a PhD candidate in the Operations and Technology group at the UCL School of Management, has been named a finalist in two leading student paper competitions for her research on healthcare payment reform.
Her paper, “The NHS Blended Payment Scheme: Incentive Issues and Optimal Reform”, co-authored with her supervisors Professors Kenan Arifoğlu and Bilal Gokpinar, offers an in-depth analysis of the NHS’s blended payment model, a system that combines fixed and variable payments for hospitals.
Using game-theory modelling and empirical analysis, the paper finds that despite the blended payment scheme improving upon the previously implemented payment models in NHS England, it still possesses key limitations. The authors argue that this is due to an information gap between the regulator and hospitals themselves, which fails to fully align hospital incentives for cost reduction and readiness.
The authors propose a modified payment scheme that aims to better align hospital incentives with socially optimal outcomes.
The research has been shortlisted in two prestigious INFORMS awards: The MSOM (Manufacturing and Service Operations Management) Student Paper Competition and the Health Applications Society (HAS) Student Paper Competition. The winners of these awards will be determined during the 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting in late October.
Discussing the achievement, Sara Mohammadi said:
“I’m truly honoured by these recognitions, which reflect the positive reception of our research within our research community. I’m deeply grateful to my supervisors for their invaluable guidance and support along the way. I look forward to the final decisions at the 2025 INFORMS Annual Meeting.”
