Evidence map›Paper›PMID 8806250›Full record

ArticleBMJ (Clinical research ed.)1996

Influences of practice characteristics on prescribing in fundholding and non-fundholding general practices: an observational study.

R P Wilson, J Hatcher, S Barton, T Walley

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 1996. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed, 1 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

12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pharmaceutical policies: effects of financial incentives for prescribers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015
    Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. A healthy disposition? The use and limitations of the characteristics approach to general practice research.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2001
    Article
  7. Do GPs working in practice with high or low prescribing costs have different views on prescribing cost issues?The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2000
    Article
  8. Therapeutic substitution and therapeutic conservatism as cost-containment strategies in primary care: a study of fundholders and non-fundholders.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 1999
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Poles apart? The views of general practitioners and family health services authority advisers on prescribing cost issues.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 1997
    Article
  12. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

R P WilsonDepartment of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Liverpool.
J Hatcher
S Barton
T Walley

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo investigate the variation in prescribing among general practices by examining the contribution to this variation of fundholding, training status, partnership status, and the level of deprivation in the practice population and to investigate the extent to which fundholding has been responsible for any changes in prescribing.

designAnalysis of prescribing data (PACT) for the years 1990-1 (before fundholding) and 1993-4 (after fundholding), Use of multiple linear regressions to investigate the variation among practices in total prescribing costs (net ingredient cost per prescribing units), and mean cost per item in each of the two years and also the change in these variables between years.

settingFormer Mersey region. SUBJECTS: 384 practices.

resultsThe models developed explained the variation in cost per item (43% of variation explained for 1990-1, 38% for 1993-4) and prescribing volume (34% for 1990-1, 38% for 1993-4) better than the variation in total prescribing costs (3% for 1990-1, 7% for 1993-4). The models developed to explain the change in these variables between years did not explain more than 10% of the variation. Most of the explained variation in the change in total prescribing costs was accounted for by fundholding. Of the pounds 3.71 saved by first wave fundholders compared with non-fundholders pounds 3.57 was attributable to fundholding alone.

conclusionIn neither year did fundholding make a major contribution to the variation in prescribing behaviour among practices, which was better explained by deprivation, training status, and partnership status, but it did seem largely responsible for differences in the rise of total prescribing costs between fundholders and non fundholders.

Indexed as

Drug PrescriptionsFamily PracticeFinancial ManagementPractice Patterns, Physicians'EnglandHealth Care CostsHumansPartnership PracticePoverty

Identifiers

PMID8806250
PMCPMC2352071

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.