Financial Incentives for Alcohol Brief Interventions in Primary Care in Scotland

This study aimed to provide an overview of the evidence for using remuneration systems for Alcohol Brief Interventions (ABIs) in primary care, to examine the availability of relevant data in Scotland and to explore the views of local and national stakeholders.

There were three strands to the study:
• A rapid literature review on the design and impact of remuneration models on the delivery of screening and/or brief interventions for alcohol in primary care.
• Document and data analysis on remuneration systems from three local health boards and an assessment of the availability and utility of ABI data.
• An interview study with five key local and national stakeholders on the design and impact of remuneration models

Conclusions
Despite the scale and ambition of Scotland’s ABI programme, it has failed to contribute substantially to the ABI evidence base, including on important questions such as the impact of financial incentives on ABI delivery, quality and resulting patient outcomes. As the Scottish Government ‘refreshes’ its national alcohol strategy, there is an opportunity to address this weakness to inform future
alcohol policy in Scotland and globally.