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Prescribing incentive scheme for non-fundholding general practices
Tailoring a scheme to individual practices is more effectiveEDITOR,--D N Bateman and colleagues' paper adds to the evidence that incentives to general practitioners are an important component of a strategy to change doctors' prescribing patterns.1 It is interesting to compare the results of the scheme in the Northern region in England, described by Bateman and colleagues, with those of the rational prescribing payment scheme in Lothian, Scotland. Both schemes contained financial incentives for non-fundholding practices and led to savings in prescribing. The Lothian scheme consisted of three targets for practices: to be within budget, to achieve a rate of prescribing of generic drugs of over 56%, and to achieve a quality target.
The main difference between the schemes was the way they were applied. In Lothian methods that have been shown to be effective in changing doctors' behaviour were used. These have been described by Grol.2 He recommends the
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- A prescribing incentive scheme for non-fundholding general practices: an observational study
- D N Bateman, M Campbell, L J Donaldson, S J Roberts, and J M Smith
BMJ 1996 313: 535-538.[Abstract] [Full Text]
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