cam a22 2 4500 357888693 CHVBK 20200107115710.0 cr ||||||||||| 160307s2016 xxu||||||---- 00 |eng-d (OCoLC)944080567 (IDSSG)000855685 SzZuIDS HSG ger rda Chen Alice Verfasser aut Saving Lives or Saving Money? Understanding the Dual Nature of Physician Preferences Alice Chen, Darius N. Lakdawalla Cambridge, MA National Bureau of Economic Research 2016 1 Online-Ressource Text txt rdacontent/ger Computermedien c rdamedia/ger Online-Ressource cr rdacarrier/ger NBER working paper series 21930 21930 (IDSSG)000043070 523018967 A longstanding literature has highlighted the tension between the altruism of physicians and their desire for profit. This paper develops new implications for how these competing forces drive pricing and utilization in healthcare markets. Altruism dictates that providers reduce utilization in response to higher prices, but profit-maximization does the opposite. Rational physicians will behave more altruistically when treating poorer patients or those that face higher medical cost burdens, and when foregone profits are lower. These insights help explain the observed heterogeneity in pricing dynamics across different healthcare markets. We empirically test the implications of our model by utilizing two exogenous shocks in Medicare price setting policies. Our results indicate that patient income, out-of-pocket costs, and profitability alone explain up to one-quarter of the variation in price elasticities. Finally, we demonstrate that uniform policy changes in reimbursement or patient cost-sharing may lead to unintended consequences. Lakdawalla Darius N. Verfasser aut http://www.nber.org/papers/w21930 Full text for the University of St. Gallen Metadata Rights Reserved ids I noalma ids I IDSSG 100 1- Chen Alice Verfasser aut IDSSG 490 0- NBER working paper series 21930 21930 (IDSSG)000043070 523018967 IDSSG 700 1- Lakdawalla Darius N. Verfasser aut IDSSG 856 -- http://www.nber.org/papers/w21930 Full text for the University of St. Gallen Metadata rights reserved idssg BK020053 XK020053 XK020000 IDSSG HSG HSG ONL HONL000855685