Financial incentives may be effective in changing healthcare professional practice .
We found no evidence from review s that examined the effect of financial incentives on patient outcomes
BACKGROUND There is considerable interest in the effectiveness of financial incentives in the delivery of health care .
Incentives may be used in an attempt to increase the use of evidence -based treatments among healthcare professionals or to stimulate health professionals to change their clinical behaviour with respect to preventive , diagnostic and treatment decisions , or both .
Financial incentives are an extrinsic source of motivation and exist when an individual can expect a monetary transfer which is made conditional on acting in a particular way .
Since there are numerous review s performed within the healthcare area describing the effects of various types of financial incentives , it is important to summarise the effectiveness of these in an overview to discern which are most effective in changing health professionals ' behaviour and patient outcomes .
OBJECTIVES To conduct an overview of systematic review s that evaluates the impact of financial incentives on healthcare professional behaviour and patient outcomes .
The impact of physician bonuses, enhanced fees, and feedback on childhood immunization coverage rates.
OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to examine the effects on immunization coverage of 3 incentives for physicians -- a cash bonus for practice --wide increases , enhanced fee for service , and feedback . METHODS Incentives were applied at 4-month intervals over 1 year among 60 inner-city office-based pediatricians . At each interval , charts of 50 r and omly selected children between 3 and 35 months of age were review ed per physician . RESULTS The percentage of children who were up to date for diphtheria , tetanus , and pertussis and Haemophilus influenzae type b ; polio ; and measles-mumps-rubella immunization in the study 's bonus group improved by 25.3 percentage points ( P < .01 ) . No significant changes occurred in the other groups . However , percentage of immunizations received outside the participating practice also increased significantly in the bonus group ( P < .01 ) . Levels of missed opportunities to immunize were high in all groups and did not change over time . Physicians ' knowledge of contraindications was low . CONCLUSIONS Bonuses sharply and rapidly increased immunization cover-age in medical records . However , much of the increase was the result of better documentation . A bonus is a powerful incentive , but more structure or education may be necessary to achieve the desired results
Financial incentives may be effective in changing healthcare professional practice .
We found no evidence from review s that examined the effect of financial incentives on patient outcomes
BACKGROUND There is considerable interest in the effectiveness of financial incentives in the delivery of health care .
Incentives may be used in an attempt to increase the use of evidence -based treatments among healthcare professionals or to stimulate health professionals to change their clinical behaviour with respect to preventive , diagnostic and treatment decisions , or both .
Financial incentives are an extrinsic source of motivation and exist when an individual can expect a monetary transfer which is made conditional on acting in a particular way .
Since there are numerous review s performed within the healthcare area describing the effects of various types of financial incentives , it is important to summarise the effectiveness of these in an overview to discern which are most effective in changing health professionals ' behaviour and patient outcomes .
OBJECTIVES To conduct an overview of systematic review s that evaluates the impact of financial incentives on healthcare professional behaviour and patient outcomes .