When peer comparison information harms physician well-being

Summary

1. Study among PCPs showed that peer comparisons, a widely used technique to achieve outcomes did not achieve the desired outcome, and did show negative effects toward job satisfaction.

2. Study was 5 months in 2020 with ~200 UCLA PCPs, ~47,000 patients and focused on completion of Health Maintenance (HM) task of those patients as measure of outcome.

3. Job satisfaction was reported by surveys; leadership training on how to better offer support seemed to offset the negative effects of comparisons.

Commentary

1. Paper topic directly pertinent to incentive design, explores both intended and unintended consequence of a commonly-used incentive (”do well relative to your peers”).

2. Presents an important conclusion, though its relatively small sample and time period limit its generalizability.

3. Reminds me of Munger’s quote that envy more than greed drives human behavior.

Reference