Paper of the Week: 26th July – Clinicians belief drives variation

2019-07-26T13:02:01+00:00

This week's paper is brought to you by: Dr Tim Wilson, Managing Director Full reference and title from the journal: Cutler, David, Jonathan S. Skinner, Ariel Dora Stern, and David Wennberg. 2019. "Physician Beliefs and Patient Preferences: A New Look at Regional Variation in Health Care Spending." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 11 (1): 192-221. WEB LINK TO PAPER Authors conclusion There is considerable controversy about the causes of regional variations in health care expenditures. Using vignettes from patient and physician surveys linked to fee-for-service Medicare expenditures, this study asks whether patient demand-side factors or physician supply-side factors explain these variations. The results indicate that patient demand is relatively unimportant in explaining variations. Physician organizational factors matter, but the most [...]