Clinical Practice Intensity: Comparing Veterans Affairs (VA) to Private Sector Physicians

NCT ID: NCT00853918

Last Updated: 2017-10-06

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 1000 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2009-06-01
• Study Completion Date: 2010-12-01

Brief Summary

This is a national physician mail survey examining primary care practice patterns. The experimental component of the study (the clinical trial) is a randomized trial of different monetary incentive forms and amounts for physicians invited to participate in the study. Only non-VA physicians will be included in this part of the study. (VA physicians are not allowed to receive monetary incentives.) Physicians will be randomized to receive one of four incentives. The main outcome measure is the response rate.

Detailed Description

This primary care physician survey is being conducted by Harris Interactive, an international survey research firm working collaboratively under contract to VA investigators heading the study. Surveys will be mailed to a random sample of 1000 non-VA primary care general internists practicing 20 or more clinical hours per week, identified via the Physician Masterfile of the American Medical Association.

The initial survey mailing, delivered via USPS Priority Mail, will include a cover letter inviting the physician to participate, a 12-page survey booklet (including a cover page, a 9-page survey, and 2 blank pages), a monetary incentive, and a prepaid addressed return envelope. The survey is estimated to take 20 minutes to complete. All survey recipients will also have the opportunity, as part of the survey, to request information about practice patterns in their community. Harris Interactive will randomly assign all invited (non-VA) physicians to receive one of four incentives, included in the initial survey mailing.

Non-responders will be contacted two additional times (at approximately 2 and 4 weeks following the initial mailing) by telephone and by mail. Subsequent mailings will include the survey, a cover letter, and a stamped addressed return envelope, but no monetary incentive.

Response rates will be compared between the four arms of the trial; between check v. cash; and between different denominations.

Conditions

Physician Survey Response Rates

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

$20 Cash

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

$20 cash

Intervention Type: OTHER

$20 cash incentive mailed with survey

$50 Cash

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

$50 cash

Intervention Type: OTHER

$50 cash incentive mailed with survey

$50 Check

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

$50 check

Intervention Type: OTHER

$50 check incentive mailed with survey

$100 Check

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

$100 check

Intervention Type: OTHER

$100 check incentive mailed with survey

Interventions

$20 cash

$20 cash incentive mailed with survey

Intervention Type: OTHER

$50 cash

$50 cash incentive mailed with survey

Intervention Type: OTHER

$50 check

$50 check incentive mailed with survey

Intervention Type: OTHER

$100 check

$100 check incentive mailed with survey

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Primary care general internists in the United States, identified through the AMA Physician Masterfile, who practice at least 20 hours per week are eligible to participate.
• All physicians included in the sample to whom the survey packets are mailed will be included in the analysis of the incentive experiment, except those for whom a survey packet is returned as undeliverable and those non-respondents identified through follow-up procedures as non-locatable, deceased, or retired.

Exclusion Criteria

• Physicians self-identified in the AMA Masterfile as medical subspecialists or hospitalists are excluded from the sample.

• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

White River Junction Veterans Affairs Medical Center

FED

Sponsor Role: collaborator

VA Office of Research and Development

FED

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Brenda E Sirovich, MD MS

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

White River Junction VA Medical Center, White River Junction, VT

References

Sirovich BE, Gottlieb DJ, Welch HG, Fisher ES. Regional variations in health care intensity and physician perceptions of quality of care. Ann Intern Med. 2006 May 2;144(9):641-9. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-144-9-200605020-00007.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 16670133 (View on PubMed)

Robertson DJ, Sirovich BE. Colorectal cancer risk following a negative colonoscopy. JAMA. 2006 Nov 22;296(20):2437; author reply 2437-8. doi: 10.1001/jama.296.20.2437-a. No abstract available.

Reference Type: RESULT

PMID: 17119136 (View on PubMed)

Sirovich BE, Woloshin S, Schwartz LM. Too Little? Too Much? Primary care physicians' views on US health care: a brief report. Arch Intern Med. 2011 Sep 26;171(17):1582-5. doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.437.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 21949169 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

DMS-17632

Identifier Type: OTHER_GRANT

Identifier Source: secondary_id

IIR 03-242

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id