The effects of an incentive program on quality of care in diabetes management.

Full Abstract

An incentive program for general practitioners to encourage systematic and igh-quality care in chronic disease management was introduced in Australia in 1999. There is little empirical evidence and ambiguous theoretical guidance on which effects to expect. This paper evaluates the impact of the incentive program on quality of care in diabetes, as measured by the probability of ordering an HbA1c test. The empirical analysis is conducted with a unique data set and a bivariate probit model to control for the self-selection process of practices into the program. The study finds that the incentive program increased the probability of an HbA1c test being ordered by 20 percentage points and that participation in the program is facilitated by the support of Divisions of General Practice. Copyright (c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Author information

Author/s: Scott, Anthony (A); Schurer, Stefanie (S); Jensen, Paul H (PH); Sivey, Peter (P);

Affiliation: University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Health economics (Health Econ), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 18 (issue 9) : pp 1091-108

Dates: Created 2009/08/24; Completed 2009/11/03;

PMID: 19644938, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/3/2009, IMS Date: )

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