Primary care physicians have two roles: the healer and the gatekeeper. We show that, due to information asymmetries … truly sick and shirkers, will strictly prefer physicians who give priority to healing. The choice between work and sick … leave thus lies, essentially, with the patient. Interviews with Norwegian primary care physicians confirm this: Our …

, the practicing physicians tend to be older and young doctors are becoming less willing to settle in their own surgery. To … cope with these challenges the Regional Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in Brandenburg …

In Germany there is an ongoing debate on the adequate distribution of physicians that are obliged to guarantee the …. From a health economics point of view it has to be discussed which role physicians have to play within different forms of … organizing care and cure. In the paper, a standardized utility function that depicts physicians’ interest helps to figure out the …

probability of switching physicians. We also study whether a physician with unfavorable characteristics, as perceived by patients … patients, has a huge effect on the volume of patients switching physicians. We also find that although physicians who … experience patient shortages in general provide more services to their patients than physicians who have enough patients, the …

In Norway specialized health services are provided both by public hospitals and by privately practicing specialists who …