Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31126294›Full record

ArticleHuman resources for health2019

The role of financial factors in the mobility and location choices of General Practitioners in Australia.

Michelle McIsaac, Anthony Scott, Guyonne Kalb

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Human resources for health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
5.3field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
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

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Michelle McIsaacWorld Health Organization, Avenue Appia 20, 1293, Geneva, Switzerland. mmcisaac@who.int.ORCID 0000-0002-6591-6074
Anthony ScottMelbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne, 111 Barry Street, Carlton, VIC, 3053, Australia.
Guyonne KalbMelbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne, 111 Barry Street, Carlton, VIC, 3053, Australia.
The University of Melbourne · AUWorld Health Organization · CH

Funding

National Health and Medical Research Council 454799 and 1019605World Health Organization 001
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe geographic distribution of health workers is a pervasive policy concern. Many governments are responding by introducing financial incentives to attract health care workers to locate in areas that are underserved. However, clear evidence of the effectiveness of such financial incentives is lacking.

methodsThis paper examines General Practitioners' (GPs) relocation choices in Australia and proposes a dynamic location choice model accounting for both source and destination factors associated with a choice to relocate, thereby accounting for push and pull factors associated with job separation. The model is used to simulate financial incentive policies and assess potential for such policies to redistribute GPs. This paper examines the role of financial factors in relocating established GPs into neighbourhoods with relatively low socioeconomic status. The paper uses a discrete choice model and panel data on GPs' actual changes in location from one year to the next.

resultsThis paper finds that established GPs are not very mobile, even when a financial incentive is offered. Policy simulation predicts that 93.2% of GPs would remain at their current practice and that an additional 0.8% would be retained or would relocate in a low-socioeconomic status (SES) neighbourhood in response to a hypothetical financial incentive of a 10% increase in the earnings of all metropolitan GPs practising in low-SES neighbourhoods.

conclusionWith current evidence on the effectiveness of redistribution programmes limited to newly entering GPs, the policy simulations in this paper provide an insight into the potential effectiveness of financial incentives as a redistribution policy targeting the entire GP population. Overall, the results suggest that financial considerations are part of many factors influencing the location choice of GPs. For instance, GP practice ownership played almost as important a role in mobility as earnings.

Indexed as

AustraliaChoice BehaviorFemaleGeneral PractitionersHealth PolicyHumansMaleMiddle AgedModels, StatisticalMotivationProfessional Practice LocationSalaries and Fringe BenefitsSurveys and QuestionnairesFinancial incentivesGeographic mobilityLabour market

Identifiers

PMID31126294
PMCPMC6534889
OpenAlexW2947288673

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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.