Peer-Comparison Reports on Antibiotic Prescribing Sent to Primary Care Physicians

Overprescription of antibiotics by primary care clinicians is a major modifiable driver of antibiotic resistance. Evidence suggests that peer-comparison feedback can reduce antibiotic overprescription, but the optimal content and delivery of such feedback is unclear.

Researchers randomized 5000 family physicians in Ontario, Canada, to receive either mailed feedback (with data on individual prescribing rates compared with peers' prescribing rates, plus educational information on optimal prescribing) or no mailed feedback (control group). Clinicians in the intervention group were randomized further to (a) receiving personalized prescribing data that were adjusted, versus not adjusted, for case mix, and (b) receiving information on potential ha…