Physicians' Responses to Financial Incentives: Evidence From a for-Profit Ambulatory Care Center

Abstract

Practice patterns of physicians employed by a chain of for-profit, walk-in ambulatory care centers were studied over the period of a year to determine physician responses to monetary incentives. The number of patient visits per month, the number of laboratory tests per patient visit, and the number of x-ray films per visit increased after a payment system involving bonus incentives was instituted. Each month physicians received the greater of a flat hourly fee or a percentage of the gross monthly charges they generated. While not all physicians in the study generated enough revenue for the volume incentive to take effect, all increased their practice activity after the bonus system was implemented by their employer. (KIE abstract)