TY - JOUR T1 - Results of a 12-month quality-circle prescribing improvement programme for GPs JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 574 LP - 576 VL - 57 IS - 540 AU - Françoise Riou AU - Christine Piette AU - Gérard Durand AU - Jacques Chaperon Y1 - 2007/07/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/57/540/574.abstract N2 - Background The impact of a quality-circle GP prescribing improvement programme, implemented in France in 2001–2002, was assessed by a controlled study. The study involved all 27 GPs of three semi-rural areas of Brittany, France. Practice data (overall prescribing cost and markers of prescribing efficiency) were collated in an intention-to-treat analysis, using the Mann–Whitney U test. Twenty-four GPs attended the meetings regularly. The reduction in drug expenditure exceeded the cost of the programme, although variations in size effects were observed among the settings. ER -