Pay for performance of Estonian family doctors and impact of different practice- and patient-related characteristics on a good outcome: A quantitative assessment

Background and objective: Several practice- and patient-related characteristics are reported to have an influence on a good quality outcome. Estonia started the pay-for-performance (P4P) system for family doctors (FDs) in 2006. Every year the number of FDs participating in P4P has increased, but only half of the FDs achieved good outcome. The aim of this study was to find out which practice- and patient-related characteristics could have an impact on a good outcome.
Materials and methods: The study was conducted using the database from the Estonian Health Insurance Fund. All working FDs were divided into two groups (with ‘‘good’’ and ‘‘poor’’ outcomes) according their achievements in P4P. We chose characteristics which described structure (practice list size, number of doctors, composition of FDs list: age, number of chronically ill patients) during the observation period 2006–2012.
Results: During the observation period 2006–2012, the number of FDs with a good outcome in P4P increased from 6% (2006) to 53% (2012). The high number of FDs in primary care teams, longer experience of participation in P4P and the smaller number of patients on FDs' lists all have an impact on a good outcome. The number of chronically ill patients in FDs lists has no significant effect on an outcome, but P4P increases the number of disease-diagnosed patients.
Conclusions: Different practice and patient-related characteristics have an impact on a good outcome. As workload increases, smaller lists of FDs patients or increased staff levels are needed in order to maintain a good outcome.