Although financial incentives are considered an important element in strategies to change prescribing patterns , limited evidence of their effects can be found .
BACKGROUND The proportion of total healthcare expenditures spent on drugs has continued to grow in countries of all income categories .
Policy-makers are under pressure to control pharmaceutical expenditures without adversely affecting quality of care .
Financial incentives seeking to influence prescribers ' behaviour include budgetary arrangements at primary care and hospital setting s ( pharmaceutical budget caps or targets ) , financial rewards for target behaviours or outcomes ( pay for performance interventions ) and reduced benefit margin for prescribers based on medicine sales and prescriptions ( pharmaceutical reimbursement rate reduction policies ) .
This is the first up date of the original version of this review .
OBJECTIVES To determine the effects of pharmaceutical policies using financial incentives to influence prescribers ' practice s on drug use , healthcare utilisation , health outcomes and costs ( expenditures ) .
Does the frequency of pay-for-performance payment matter?--Experience from a randomized trial.
OBJECTIVE To examine the effects of incentive payment frequency on quality measures in a physician-specific pay-for-performance ( P4P ) experiment . STUDY SETTING A multispecialty physician group practice . STUDY DESIGN In 2007 , all primary care physicians ( n=179 ) were r and omized into two study arms differing by the frequency of incentive payment , either four quarterly bonus checks or a single year-end bonus ( maximum of U.S.$5,000/year for both arms ) . DATA COLLECTION / EXTRACTION METHODS Data were extracted from electronic health records . Quality measure scores between the two arms over four quarters were compared . PRINCIPAL FINDINGS There was no difference between the two arms in average quality measure score or in total bonus amount earned . CONCLUSIONS Physicians ' responses to a P4P program with a small maximum bonus do not differ by frequency of bonus payment
Although financial incentives are considered an important element in strategies to change prescribing patterns , limited evidence of their effects can be found .
BACKGROUND The proportion of total healthcare expenditures spent on drugs has continued to grow in countries of all income categories .
Policy-makers are under pressure to control pharmaceutical expenditures without adversely affecting quality of care .
Financial incentives seeking to influence prescribers ' behaviour include budgetary arrangements at primary care and hospital setting s ( pharmaceutical budget caps or targets ) , financial rewards for target behaviours or outcomes ( pay for performance interventions ) and reduced benefit margin for prescribers based on medicine sales and prescriptions ( pharmaceutical reimbursement rate reduction policies ) .
This is the first up date of the original version of this review .
OBJECTIVES To determine the effects of pharmaceutical policies using financial incentives to influence prescribers ' practice s on drug use , healthcare utilisation , health outcomes and costs ( expenditures ) .