Demanding Customers: Consumerist Patients and Quality of Care
Consumerism arises when patients acquire and use medical information from sources other than their physicians. This practice has been hailed as a means of improving quality. This need not be the result. Our theoretical model identifies a channel through which consumerism may reduce quality: consumerist patients place additional demands on their doctors’ time, thus imposing a negative externality on other patients. Relative to a world in which consumerism does not exist, consumerism may harm other consumerists, non-consumerists, or both. Data from a large national survey of physicians confirm the negative effects of consumerism: high levels of consumerist patients are associated with lower perceived quality among physicians.
Year of publication: |
2011
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Authors: | Hai, Fang ; Miller Nolan H. ; John, Rizzo ; Richard, Zeckhauser |
Published in: |
The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy. - De Gruyter, ISSN 1935-1682. - Vol. 11.2011, 1, p. 1-51
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Publisher: |
De Gruyter |
Saved in:
Online Resource
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