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The effects of an incentive program on quality of care in diabetes management
Author(s) -
Scott Anthony,
Schurer Stefanie,
Jensen Paul H.,
Sivey Peter
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.1536
Subject(s) - incentive program , incentive , multivariate probit model , quality (philosophy) , actuarial science , bivariate analysis , control (management) , test (biology) , set (abstract data type) , empirical research , quality management , medicine , business , operations management , computer science , economics , econometrics , statistics , mathematics , microeconomics , management system , paleontology , philosophy , epistemology , machine learning , artificial intelligence , programming language , biology
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 © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.