title: Clinical Practice Improvement Payments: incentives for delivery of quality care.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In 2008, Queensland Health mental health services participated in a quality incentive payment scheme referred to as the Clinical Practice Improvement Payment. Services across the state engaged in local improvement projects with the collective aim of improving the number of consumers, diagnosed with schizophrenia, followed up within seven days post discharge. This paper describes the application of this approach over two and a half years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixteen mental health services across Queensland participated and were provided with the opportunity to receive incentive payments during the period between January 2009 and June 2011. Data collection was conducted using information available on existing Queensland Health databases. Services were provided with regular updates on their progress through a secure intranet site, state-wide forums and individual service presentations, enabling them to compare their individual service data with peer and state data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  State-wide results showed steady and continual improvement in the indicator over the reporting period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that the implementation of incentive payments for routine clinical work in mental health can assist with state-wide service improvement. The impact of target setting and supporting activities remains unclear and improvements appeared to be robust to administrative challenges and unexpected external events.
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Clinical Collaborative, Queensland Health, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Sally_Plever@health.qld.gov.au
authors.forename: Sally
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Plever
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: Brett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Emmerson
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Groves
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D058996:Quality Improvement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011793:Queensland; D012052:Reimbursement, Incentive / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy