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Economic Incentives and the Distribution of Extracorporeal Shock wave Lithotripters and Linear Accelerators in Spain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

Pablo Lázaro  and
Kathryn Fitch
Pablo Lázaro
Affiliation:
Instituto de Salud Carlos III
Kathryn Fitch
Affiliation:
Instituto de Salud Carlos III
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Abstract

We studied the role of economic incentives for private providers in explaining Spain's disproportionately large number of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripters (ESWLs) and low number of linear accelerators (linacs) per million population (pmp) in comparison to other countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). We found that the reimbursement policy for 1990 allowed an average profit per private ESWL of $732,000, but no profit for linacs. Regional per-capita income was positively correlated with ESWLs pmp in Spain (R2 = 0.49; p =.001), but not with linacs. Sixty-nine percent of ESWLs were privately held versus only 16% of linacs. To avoid these types of distortions, financial incentives should be based on a reasonable relationship between cost and charges and should be associated with the appropriateness of medical care.

Type
General Essays
Information
International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , Fall 1996 , pp. 735 - 744
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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