Comparison of depression care provided in general practice in Norway and the Netherlands: registry-based cohort study (The Norwegian GP-DEP study)

The impact of remuneration, extrinsic and intrinsic incentives on interprofessional primary care teams: results from a rapid scoping review

BACKGROUND

High-performing primary care relies on effective interprofessional teams and provider payment arrangements. This study aims to examine the impact of provider remuneration mechanisms and intrinsic and extrinsic incentives in team-based primary care.

METHODS

This rapid scoping review assessed various provider payment models and incentives in team-based primary care. Statistical tests were not applicable in this review.

RESULTS

Fee-for-service models hindered team collaboration, while salaried and quality-based compensation models enhanced collaboration. Extrinsic incentives, such as pay-for-performance programs for physicians, showed mixed impacts on outcomes. Strong organizational cultures and leadership, resources, team meetings, training, clear protocols, and professional development opportunities facilitated teamwork. Intrinsic incentives like autonomy, mastery, and social purpose improved team performance and satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS

This study underscores the importance of a holistic approach to designing interprofessional primary care teams. It highlights the need for implementing non-fee-for-service provider payment models and team-based pay-for-performance incentives. Investments in teams should include health human resources and leadership, training, guidelines, and professional development opportunities. Implementing a performance measurement framework for teams and regular public reporting can foster mastery. Continuous research and evaluation are crucial to optimizing teamwork and healthcare delivery in primary care settings.

Lessons from the Netherlands for Australia: cross-country comparison of trends in antidepressant dispensing 2013-2021 and contextual factors influencing prescribing

BACKGROUND

There is concern internationally about increasing antidepressant use. Most antidepressants are prescribed in general practice. The aim of this study was to compare trends in antidepressant dispensing in Australia and the Netherlands over the 9years from 2013 to 2021, and to explore reasons for differences.

METHODS

A convergent mixed methods study including analysis of publicly available antidepressant dispensing data obtained from Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and the Dutch Foundation for Pharmaceutical Statistics and a search of relevant literature to compare contextual factors influencing prescribing were undertaken.

RESULTS

In 2013, antidepressant dispensing rates in Australia were nearly twice as high as those in the Netherlands (82.5 versus 44.3DDD/1000/day) and increased to be more than twice as high by 2021 (115.6 versus 48.8DDD/1000/day). Antidepressant dispensing increased by 40% in Australia over the nine study years, but by only 10% in the Netherlands. Our scan of the literature confirms that while population factors, health system structure, and clinical guideline recommendations are largely consistent across the two countries, a multifaceted approach in the Netherlands involving improved access to non-pharmacological alternatives, initiatives targeting safer antidepressant prescribing, and tight regulation of pharmaceutical industry influence on prescribers, has successfully curtailed increasing antidepressant use.

CONCLUSIONS

Australia may learn from the Netherlands' approach to redress increasing antidepressant use.

The 'discontinuity hypothesis' of depression in later life-clinical and research implications

The term depression is overused as an umbrella term for a variety of conditions, including depressed mood and various psychiatric disorders. According to psychiatric diagnostic criteria, depressive disorders impact nearly all aspects of human life and are a leading cause of disability worldwide. The widespread assumption that different types of depression lie on a continuum of severity has stimulated important research on subthreshold depression in later life. This view assumes that depressed mood is a precursor of a depressive disorder. The present narrative review argues why in later life depressed mood might either (i) lie on a continuum with depressive disorders among people vulnerable for a depressive disorder or (ii) be an ageing-related epiphenomenon of underlying physical illnesses in people who are resilient to depressive disorders ('discontinuity hypothesis'). Three arguments are discussed. First, the course of depressed mood and depressive disorders differs across the life span. Second, screening instruments for depression have low predictive value for depressive disorders in later life. Third, a dose-response relationship has not been consistently found across different types of depression and detrimental health outcomes. Using the umbrella term depression may partly explain why pharmacological treatment is less effective with increasing age, and negative health-related outcomes might be overestimated. The discontinuity hypothesis may prevent pharmacological overtreatment of milder subtypes of depression and may stimulate comprehensive multidisciplinary assessment as well as the development of separate treatment algorithms for depressed mood and depressive disorders.