Evidence map›Paper›PMID 20849684›Full record

ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2010

The UK pay-for-performance programme in primary care: estimation of population mortality reduction.

Robert Fleetcroft, Sheetal Parekh-Bhurke, Amanda Howe, Richard Cookson, Louise Swift, Nicholas Steel

Abstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
19citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Observational
  8. New Directions in Chronic Disease Management.Endocrinology and metabolism (Seoul, Korea) · 2015
    Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Translating policy into practice: a case study in the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2014
    Article
  14. Increasing the QOF upper payment threshold in general practices in England: impact of implementing government proposals.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2014
    Article
  15. The Public Health Impact score: a new measure of public health effectiveness for general practices in England.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2013
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Medical professionalism and pay-for-performance.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2012
    Article
  18. Correlation between prescribing quality and pharmaceutical costs in English primary care: national cross-sectional analysis.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2011
    Article
  19. Quality and Outcomes Framework: time to take stock.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2010
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Robert FleetcroftSchool of Medicine Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. r.fleetcroft@uea.ac.uk
Sheetal Parekh-Bhurke
Amanda Howe
Richard Cookson
Louise Swift
Nicholas Steel

Funding

Department of Health
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundGeneral practices in the UK contract with the government to receive additional payments for high-quality primary care. Little is known about the resulting impact on population health.

aimTo estimate the potential reduction in population mortality from implementation of the pay-for-performance contract in England. DESIGN OF STUDY: Cross-sectional and modelling study.

settingPrimary care in England.

methodTwenty-five clinical quality indicators in the contract had controlled trial evidence of mortality benefit. This was combined with condition prevalence, and the differences in performance before and after contract implementation, to estimate the potential mortality reduction per indicator. Improvement was adjusted for pre-existing trends where data were available.

resultsThe 2004 contract potentially reduced mortality by 11 lives per 100 000 people (lower-upper estimates 7-16) over 1 year, as performance improved from baseline to the target for full incentive payment. If all eligible patients were treated, over and above the target, 56 (29-81) lives per 100 000 might have been saved. For the 2006 contract, mortality reduction was effectively zero, because new baseline performance for a typical practice had already exceeded the target performance for full payment.

conclusionThe contract may have delivered substantial health gain, but potential health gain was limited by performance targets for full payment being set lower than typical baseline performance. Information on both baseline performance and population health gain should inform decisions about future selection of indicators for pay-for-performance schemes, and the level of performance at which full payment is triggered.

Indexed as

Cross-Sectional StudiesEnglandGeneral PracticeHumansMortalityPhysician Incentive PlansQuality-Adjusted Life YearsQuality Indicators, Health CareReimbursement, IncentiveRisk Assessment

Identifiers

PMID20849684
PMCPMC2930244

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.