Bridges to Excellence, a nonprofit that designs and creates programs that encourage physicians to deliver safer and more effective care, is being joined by a coalition of companies including General Electric Co., International Business Machines Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. in its most recent health care initiative. The program would pay doctors bonuses for taking better care of their patients. Last year Bridges paid roughly $10 million in bonuses. More and more health insurance companies are employing this approach to raise health-care quality while lowering costs.

These changes stand to improve and better coordinate health-care. Primary care physicians can receive up to $125 bonuses per patient annually and up to $100,000 per year. This program is intended to not only drive doctors to take better care of the patients but also reverse the downward trend of primary care in the U.S.