Decline in oral antimicrobial prescription in the outpatient setting after nationwide implementation of financial incentives and provider education: An interrupted time-series analysis

Objectives: To assess the impact of nationwide outpatient antimicrobial stewardship interventions in the form of financial incentives for providers and provider education when antimicrobials are deemed unnecessary for uncomplicated respiratory infections and acute diarrhea. Methods: We collected data from a large claims database from April 2013 through March 2020 and performed a quasi-experimental, interrupted time-series analysis. The outcome of interest was oral antimicrobial prescription rate defined as the number of monthly antimicrobial prescriptions divided by the number of outpatient visits each month. We examined the effects of financial incentive to providers (ie, targeted prescriptions for those aged <= 2 years) and provider education (ie, targeted prescriptions for those aged >= 6 years) on the overall antimicrobial prescription rates and how these interventions affected different age groups before and after their implementation. Results: In total, 21,647,080 oral antimicrobials were prescribed to 2,920,381 unique outpatients during the study period. At baseline, prescription rates for all age groups followed a downward trend throughout the study period. Immediately after the financial incentive implementation, substantial reductions in prescription rates were observed among only those aged 0-2 years (-47.5 prescriptions per 1,000 clinic visits each month; 95% confidence interval, -77.3 to -17.6; P = .003), whereas provider education immediately reduced prescription rates in all age groups uniformly. These interventions did not affect the long-term trend for any age group. Conclusion: These results suggest that the nationwide implementation of financial incentives and provider education had an immediate effect on the antimicrobial prescription but no long-term effect.

Automated summary

This study assessed the impact of nationwide outpatient antimicrobial stewardship interventions on the prescription rates of unnecessary antimicrobials for respiratory infections and acute diarrhea. The interventions included financial incentives for providers and provider education. The study found that these interventions had an immediate effect on antimicrobial prescription rates but no long-term effect.