The effect of financial and educational incentives on rational prescribing. A state-space approach.

In 2005, a Dutch health insurer introduced a financial incentive directed to general practitioners to promote rational prescribing of statins and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). Concomitantly, a regional institution that develops pharmacotherapeutic guidelines implemented two educational interventions also aiming at promoting rational statin and PPI prescribing. Utilizing a prescription database, we estimated the effect of the interventions on drug utilization and cost of statins and PPIs over time.

Visual outcome, treatment results, and prognostic factors in patients with scleritis.

Purpose: To analyze the visual outcome, systemic associations, effectiveness of treatment, and predicting features of 104 scleritis patients.

Design: Retrospective case series.

Participants: One hundred four patients treated for scleritis at the University Medical Centers of Groningen and Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Improving compliance with hospital antibiotic guidelines: a time-series intervention analysis.

Objectives: This study investigated the impact of a combined intervention strategy to improve antimicrobial prescribing at University Hospital Groningen. For the intervention, the antimicrobial treatment guidelines were updated and disseminated in paperback and electronic format. The credibility of the guidelines was improved by consultation with users.