ABSTRACT
Introduction The British National Health Service is a prominent example of a regulated capitated primary care system. Care is provided free of charge to patients. All patients must join the list of a general practitioner (GP) who is paid a taxfinanced capitation fee for each registered patient. One rationale of a capitated system is to provide an incentive to GPs to compete via quality for additional patients. GPs can vary the quality of their service, for example increasing their surgery opening hours, employing more practice nurses to provide additional services, being more willing to make home visits, or keeping their medical knowledge up to date. Higher capitation fees make it more profitable to attract additional patients by raising the quality of the service provided.
