Expanding Patients' Property Rights in Their Medical Records

Laurence C. Baker (), M. Kate Bundorf () and Daniel P. Kessler ()
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Laurence C. Baker: Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University, and the National Bureau of Economic Research
M. Kate Bundorf: Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University, and the National Bureau of Economic Research
Daniel P. Kessler: Graduate School of Business, Law School, and Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the National Bureau of Economic Research

American Journal of Health Economics, 2015, vol. 1, issue 1, 82-100

Abstract: Although doctors and hospitals own their patients' medical records, state and federal laws require that they provide patients with a copy at “reasonable cost.” We examine the effects of state laws that cap the fees that doctors and hospitals are allowed to charge patients for a copy of their records. We test whether these laws affected patients' propensity to switch doctors and the prices of new- and existing-patient visits. We also examine the effect of laws on hospitals' adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems. We find that patients from states adopting caps on copy fees were significantly more likely to switch doctors, and that hospitals in states adopting caps were significantly more likely to install an EMR. We also find that laws did not have a systematic, significant effect on prices. © 2015 American Society of Health Economists and Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Keywords: EMR; medical records; state (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I11 I13 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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