The Influence of Year-End Bonuses on Colorectal Cancer Screening

The objective of the paper is to estimate the effect of physician bonus eligibility on CRC screening while controlling for patient and primary care physician characteristics. The study is retrospective, using a managed care plan's claims data on fifty-year-old commercially insured patients in the years 2000 and 2001. The data also include links to enrollment and provider files. Multivariate logistic regression models are used to assess the association between CRC screening receipt and physician bonus eligibility. The results indicate that the probability that a patient received a CRC screening was approximately 3 percentage points higher in the year physicians were eligible for a bonus. There were also significant differences according to the gender of both the patient and physician, income, and race