Open AccessTalking About Money:
Author(s) -
Pearson Steven D.,
Hyams Tracey
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of general internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.746
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 1525-1497
pISSN - 0884-8734
DOI - 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2002.10503.x
Subject(s) - incentive , medicine , compensation (psychology) , primary care , sample (material) , family medicine , actuarial science , social psychology , microeconomics , psychology , chemistry , business , chromatography , economics
Patients sometimes express concern about the influence of “perverse” financial incentives on their care. We recruited a convenience sample of 101 primary care physicians and obtained information on their compensation. Then we audiotaped them as they role‐played a response to a videotaped mock patient who asked them how they were paid and how their method of compensation affected clinical decisions. Overall, 36% of the physicians did not give enough information in their role‐play response to allow an independent determination of how they were paid. Adopting a broad spectrum of attitudes and approaches, nearly every physician avoided discussing the role of incentives and stressed instead that he or she could be trusted under any circumstance.