The capitation study. 3. The views of participating dentists and the profession

During the course of a 3-year parallel, controlled clinical trial comparing a capitation system of remuneration with fee-for-service for the dental care of children, the views of the dentists were gained through meetings, informal communication, and a structured questionnaire sent to every dentist in the study. The questionnaires completed by the dentists who had been in the study from the beginning were used in the analysis. The views of practice principals on practice administration were also gained. Dentists in capitation claimed to have greater clinical freedom than those in fee-for-service, but the system under test involved more practice administration. The trial allowed the two systems to be compared under limited, controlled conditions, thus benefiting any substantive scheme that might be developed from it.