Across the Channel, we don’t hesitate to wave the carrot in front of doctors’ noses to encourage them to better detect dementia. Dementias like Alzheimer’s disease are very misdiagnosed in the UK. 850,000 people suffer from “dementia”, but only 45% of them are actually screened, according to the Daily Mail. It is to remedy this “shocking” situation that the Minister of Health Jeremy Hunt decided to set up this incentive system of dementia bonus. With this method, admittedly debatable, the Minister wishes to increase the diagnosis rate by two thirds by March 2015. The British National Health Service (NHS) expects 90,000 additional patients screened for dementia of 12 per general practitioner.
These 55 pounds affected with each diagnosis of dementia can, according to the wishes of the doctor, be paid in addition to the salary or be reinvested in medical equipment.
These apothecary accounts are not to everyone’s taste. Some fear an overdiagnosis of dementia with the risk of errors. Others criticize an expensive and inefficient bonus system.
A performance bonus in France
In France, doctors do not receive a bonus for a diagnosis of dementia. On the other hand, they can receive a performance bonus in addition to their consultations when they meet health objectives (for example vaccination of the elderly, mammography of women over 50, prescription of anti-cholesterol drugs for diabetics at risk ). In 2013, this annual “bonus” amounted to 5,774 euros on average for GPs.
Is this dementia bonus a good idea? Your opinion on the forum.
