The consequence of financial incentives for not prescribing antibiotics: a Japan's nationwide quasi-experiment.

Background: For addressing antibiotic overuse, Japan designed a health care policy in which eligible medical facilities could claim a financial reward when antibiotics were not prescribed for early-stage respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. The policy was introduced in a pilot manner in paediatric clinics in April 2018.

Methods: We conducted a quasi-experimental, propensity score-matched, difference-in-differences (DID) design to determine whether the nationwide financial incentives for appropriate non-prescribing of antibiotics as antimicrobial stewardship [800 JPY (≈7.

Change in clinical practice variations for antibiotic prescriptions across different pediatric clinics: A Japan's nationwide observational study.

Background: In 2016, the Japanese government set the National Action Plan on antimicrobial resistance to reduce antibiotic prescriptions. However, the trends and variations of antibiotic prescription patterns in a routine healthcare setting during the fiscal year 2013-2018 across different clinics at a national level are unclear.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included all clinics with >100 pediatric outpatients with infectious diseases per month during the fiscal year 2013-2018 using a national database in Japan.