Health Services as Credence Goods: a Field ...
Document type :
Article dans une revue scientifique
DOI :
Title :
Health Services as Credence Goods: a Field Experiment
Author(s) :
Gottschalk, Felix [Auteur]
Mimra, Wanda [Auteur]
Lille économie management - UMR 9221 [LEM]
Waibel, Christian [Auteur]
Mimra, Wanda [Auteur]
Lille économie management - UMR 9221 [LEM]
Waibel, Christian [Auteur]
Journal title :
The Economic Journal
Pages :
1346-1383
Publisher :
Oxford Academic
Publication date :
2020-07-01
ISSN :
0013-0133
HAL domain(s) :
Sciences de l'Homme et Société
Sciences de l'Homme et Société/Economies et finances
Sciences de l'Homme et Société/Economies et finances
English abstract : [en]
Agency problems are a defining characteristic of healthcare markets. We present the results from a field experiment in the market for dental care: a test patient who does not need treatment is sent to 180 dentists to receive ...
Show more >Agency problems are a defining characteristic of healthcare markets. We present the results from a field experiment in the market for dental care: a test patient who does not need treatment is sent to 180 dentists to receive treatment recommendations. In the experiment, we vary the socio-economic status of the patient and whether a second opinion signal is sent. Furthermore, measures of market, practice and dentist characteristics are collected. We observe an overtreatment recommendation rate of 28% and a striking heterogeneity in treatment recommendations. Furthermore, we find significantly fewer overtreatment recommendations for patients with higher socio-economic status compared with lower socio-economic status for standard visits, suggesting a complex role for patients’ socio-economic status. Competition intensity, measured by dentist density, does not have a significant influence on overtreatment. Dentists with shorter waiting times are more likely to propose unnecessary treatment.Show less >
Show more >Agency problems are a defining characteristic of healthcare markets. We present the results from a field experiment in the market for dental care: a test patient who does not need treatment is sent to 180 dentists to receive treatment recommendations. In the experiment, we vary the socio-economic status of the patient and whether a second opinion signal is sent. Furthermore, measures of market, practice and dentist characteristics are collected. We observe an overtreatment recommendation rate of 28% and a striking heterogeneity in treatment recommendations. Furthermore, we find significantly fewer overtreatment recommendations for patients with higher socio-economic status compared with lower socio-economic status for standard visits, suggesting a complex role for patients’ socio-economic status. Competition intensity, measured by dentist density, does not have a significant influence on overtreatment. Dentists with shorter waiting times are more likely to propose unnecessary treatment.Show less >
Language :
Anglais
Peer reviewed article :
Oui
Audience :
Internationale
Popular science :
Non
Collections :
Source :