title: Tracking managed care: the importance of a cash incentive for medical director response to a survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the impact of a monetary incentive in a survey mailed to medical directors of large medical groups and independent practice associations (IPAs).
  
  
  METHODS
  Mailed survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  We mailed a survey to the medical directors of all medical groups and IPAs contracted with Blue Cross California Care, a large California managed care health plan (n = 174). After 2 mailings without any monetary incentive, we included a $50 bill in the third mailing to increase the response rate.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only 46 medical directors responded to the first and second mailings (response rates of 17% and 13%, respectively). The third mailing, which included a $50 bill attached to the front of the survey, yielded 78 responses (66%), for an overall total of 124 (76%). We found no significant differences in the physician organizations of medical directors who responded to the mailing with the $50 incentive compared with the physician organizations of those who responded to 1 of the first 2 mailings, although medical directors who responded without the financial incentive were more likely to report that their organization had staff for quality assurance (96% vs 82%; P < or = .03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Including a $50 bill improved the rate of response to a survey mailed to medical directors from 13%-17% to 66%.
authors.affiliation: RAND, Santa Monica, CA. jmalin@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Malin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rideout
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Ganz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000533:Altruism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D008486:Physician Executives / Q000191:economics* / Q000523:psychology; D012052:Reimbursement, Incentive; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States