The Combined and Comparative Impacts of Financial Incentives Versus Practice Facilitation Implementation Support for...

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Implementation Science
• Public Health

Background:

• Social risk screening is increasingly important in community health centers (CHCs).
• Effective strategies are needed to implement social risk screening in CHCs serving vulnerable populations.
• Understanding the impact of different interventions is critical for widespread adoption.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of two interventions: practice facilitation and financial incentives.
• To compare the impact of these interventions, individually and combined, on social risk screening adoption in CHCs.
• To assess the sustained impact of interventions over 24 months.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study involving 32 intervention CHCs and 32 matched control CHCs.
• Intervention groups received practice facilitation, financial incentives, or both in a staggered approach.
• Difference-in-difference analysis of electronic health record data to compare monthly screening rates.

Main Results:

• Clinics receiving any intervention showed a sustained increase in social risk screening rates compared to controls.
• Combining practice facilitation with financial incentives led to statistically significant increases in screening.
• Adding financial incentives to practice facilitation showed a positive trend but did not reach statistical significance.

Conclusions:

• This study provides the first comparative analysis of interventions for social risk screening in CHCs.
• Both financial incentives and practice facilitation demonstrated modest, yet significant, impacts on screening adoption.
• Findings support the need for tailored strategies to enhance social risk screening in CHCs, particularly for underserved populations.