Natural experimental studies are often recommended as a way of understanding the health
impact of policies and other large scale interventions. Although they have certain …

There is a strong link between mental health and physical health, but little is known about
the pathways from one to the other. We analyse the direct and indirect effects of past mental …

Background Recruitment and retention of participants are both critical for the success of
trials, yet both remain significant problems. The use of incentives to target participants and …

Traditional provider payment mechanisms may not create appropriate incentives for
integrating care. Alternative payment mechanisms, such as bundled payments, have been …

This paper examines the synthetic control method in contrast to commonly used difference‐
in‐differences (DiD) estimation, in the context of a re‐evaluation of a pay‐for‐performance …

Background Pay-for-performance programs are being adopted internationally despite little
evidence that they improve patient outcomes. In 2008, a program called Advancing Quality …

Objective To examine whether the introduction of payment by results (a fixed tariff case mix
based payment system) was associated with changes in key outcome variables measuring …

Abstract The UK National Health Service introduced a pay for performance scheme for
primary care providers in 2004/5. The scheme rewarded providers for the proportion of …

Objective To estimate the impact of a national primary care pay for performance scheme, the
Quality and Outcomes Framework in England, on emergency hospital admissions for …

Waiting times have been a central concern in the English NHS, where care is provided free
at the point of delivery and is rationed by waiting time. Pro-market reforms introduced in the …