Mishal Sameer Khan, Afifah Rahman-Shepherd, Muhammad Naveed Noor, Amna Rehana Siddiqui, Catherine Goodman, Virginia Wiseman, Afshan Khurshid Isani, Wafa Aftab, Sabeen Sharif, Sadia Shakoor, Sameen Siddiqi, Rumina Hasan
BACKGROUND: Despite known adverse impacts on patients and health systems, 'incentive-linked prescribing', which describes the prescribing of medicines that result in personal benefits for the prescriber, remains a widespread and hidden impediment to quality of healthcare. We investigated factors perpetuating incentive-linked prescribing among primary care physicians in for-profit practices (referred to as private doctors), using Pakistan as a case study. METHODS: Our mixed-methods study synthesised insights from a survey of 419 systematically samples private doctors and 68 semi-structured interviews with private doctors (n=28), pharmaceutical sales representatives (n=12), and provincial and national policy actors (n=28)...
March 17, 2024: International Journal of Health Policy and Management