SynthesisThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2017
Effectiveness of UK provider financial incentives on quality of care: a systematic review.
Synthesis in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- General practice incentives: a review of the international literature.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026Pooled it
- The impact of primary care funding on health inequalities: an umbrella review.Primary health care research & development · 2025Pooled it
- Strategies to improve the implementation of preventive care in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC medicine · 2024Pooled it
- What drives general practitioners in the UK to improve the quality of care? A systematic literature review.BMJ open quality · 2021Pooled it
- Seven lessons for financial incentivisation schemes in healthcare: a qualitative study of NHS Resolution's Maternity Incentive Scheme.Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine · 2026Article
- Analyzing hospital behavior across different payment mechanism as a response to financial incentives - a scoping review.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Payment mechanisms to improve prevention spending in health care settings: A policy-focused evidence brief.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Recent advances and ongoing challenges in diabetes prevention and control in China.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2026Review
- Individual Prescribing Incentives for Biosimilars in Selected European Countries and the USA: a Scoping Literature Review.BioDrugs : clinical immunotherapeutics, biopharmaceuticals and gene therapy · 2025Article
- Information provision and financial incentives in Catalonia's public primary care (2010-2019): an interrupted time series analysis.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2024Article
- Motivating factors for frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A survey in Japan.Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2022Article
- Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Local Primary Care Incentive Scheme: A Difference-in-Differences Study.Medical care research and review : MCRR · 2022Article
- Conditions and barriers for quality improvement work: a qualitative study of how professionals and health centre managers experience audit and feedback practices in Swedish primary care.BMC family practice · 2021Article
- Guidance impact on primary care prescribing rates of simple analgesia: an interrupted time series analysis in England.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021Article
- A comparison of methods for health policy evaluation with controlled pre-post designs.Health services research · 2020Article
- Framework for patient, family-centred care within an Australian Community Hospital: development and description.BMJ open quality · 2020Review
- Hospital performance and payment: impact of integrating pay-for-performance on healthcare effectiveness in Lebanon.Wellcome open research · 2020Article
- Qualitative Study of Practices and Challenges of Stepping Down Asthma Medication in Primary Care Across the UK.Journal of asthma and allergy · 2020Article
- The effect of 'paying for performance' on the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional observational study.BJGP open · 2020Article
- Financial incentives linked to quality improvement projects in Swedish primary care: a model for improving quality of care.BMJ open quality · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundProvider financial incentives are being increasingly adopted to help improve standards of care while promoting efficiency.
aimTo review the UK evidence on whether provider financial incentives are an effective way of improving the quality of health care. DESIGN AND
settingSystematic review of UK evidence, undertaken in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) recommendations.
methodMEDLINE and Embase databases were searched in August 2016. Original articles that assessed the relationship between UK provider financial incentives and a quantitative measure of quality of health care were included. Studies showing improvement for all measures of quality of care were defined as 'positive', those that were 'intermediate' showed improvement in some measures, and those classified as 'negative' showed a worsening of measures. Studies showing no effect were documented as such. Quality was assessed using the Downs and Black quality checklist.
resultsOf the 232 published articles identified by the systematic search, 28 were included. Of these, nine reported positive effects of incentives on quality of care, 16 reported intermediate effects, two reported no effect, and one reported a negative effect. Quality assessment scores for included articles ranged from 15 to 19, out of a maximum of 22 points.
conclusionThe effects of UK provider financial incentives on healthcare quality are unclear. Owing to this uncertainty and their significant costs, use of them may be counterproductive to their goal of improving healthcare quality and efficiency. UK policymakers should be cautious when implementing these incentives - if used, they should be subject to careful long-term monitoring and evaluation. Further research is needed to assess whether provider financial incentives represent a cost-effective intervention to improve the quality of care delivered in the UK.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.