title: From data to decisions? Exploring how healthcare payers respond to the NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare in England.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although information on variations in health service performance is now more widely available, relatively little is known about how healthcare payers use this information to improve resource allocation. We explore to what extent and how Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England have used the NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare, which has highlighted small area variation in rates of expenditure, activity and outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data collection involved an email survey among PCT Chief Executives and a telephone follow-up to reach non-respondents (total response: 53 of 151 of PCTs, 35%). 45 senior to mid-level staff were interviewed to probe themes emerging from the survey. The data were analysed using a matrix-based Framework approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Just under half of the respondents (25 of 53 PCTs) reported not using the Atlas, either because they had not been aware of it, lacked staff capacity to analyse it, or did not perceive it as applicable to local decision-making. Among the 28 users, the Atlas served as a prompt to understand variations and as a visual tool to facilitate communication with clinicians. Achieving clarity on which variations are unwarranted and agreeing on responsibilities for action appeared to be important factors in moving beyond initial information gathering towards decisions about resource allocation and behaviour change.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Many payers were unable to use information on small area variations in expenditure, activity and outcome. To change this what is additionally required are appropriate tools to understand causes of unexplained variation, in particular unwarranted variation, and enable remedial actions to be prioritised in terms of their contribution to population health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom. Electronic address: L.K.Schang@lse.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schang
authors.affiliation: Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Alec
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morton
authors.affiliation: NHS QIPP Right Care Programme and NHS Derbyshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: DaSilva
authors.affiliation: Department of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Gwyn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bevan
mesh_terms: D001271:Atlases as Topic; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D062306:Geography, Medical; D006285:Health Planning / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012041:Regional Medical Programs / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D040841:Resource Allocation / Q000458:organization & administration; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Organisational decision making; Quality indicators; Regional health planning; Resource allocation; Small-area analysis; Unwarranted variations