Financial Incentives May Reduce Health Inequalities

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Financial incentive schemes may substantially contribute to the reduction of health care delivery inequalities related to area deprivation, researchers report in the Aug. 30 issue of The Lancet.

Tim Doran, M.D., of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and colleagues analyzed data from 7,637 general practices in England, data from the U.K. census, and data for characteristics of practices and patients from the 2006 general medical statistics database. Overall levels of achievement (the proportion of patients deemed eligible by the practices for whom the targets were achieved) were calculated for 48 clinical activity indicators during the initial three years of the incentive scheme.

The researchers found that median overall reported achievement ranged from 85.1 percent in year 1 to 90.8 percent in year 3. Area deprivation was associated with lower levels of achievement in year 1, with median achievement ranging from 86.8 percent for the least deprived to 82.8 percent for the most deprived. Between years 1 and 3, median achievement increased for both least and most deprived, the investigators report. Practice performance in previous years was inversely linked to achievement during this time, although area deprivation was not.

"Our results suggest that financial incentive schemes have the potential to make a substantial contribution to the reduction of inequalities in the delivery of clinical care related to area deprivation," the authors conclude.

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