The Effects of Resigning GPs on Patient Healthcare Utilization and Some Implications for Health

Daniel Monsees and Matthias Westphal

Health Economics, 2025, vol. 34, issue 5, 932-955

Abstract: We study the effects of general practitioners' (GPs') resignations on their patients' healthcare utilization and diagnoses in an event‐study setting. Using claims data from a large German statutory health insurance, we find that after physicians leave, their former patients persistently reduce their primary care utilization, only partially substituting it with specialist visits and hospital care. Because patients find a new GP already 1.1 quarters after the old resigns, on average, the persistent effects must be explained through the new GP. Indeed, the new GP serves more patients but performs less diagnostic testing. Our results reveal a substantial decrease in diagnoses of many relevant chronic conditions (such as congestive heart failure and diabetes), suggesting that disruptions may have adverse consequences for the efficiency of the healthcare system. This indicates that continuity in primary care is pivotal and shows that the GP has an essential role in healthcare delivery, particularly in healthcare systems such as Germany, where GPs often have a high workload and little consultation time.

Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4941

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:34:y:2025:i:5:p:932-955

Access Statistics for this article

Health Economics is currently edited by Alan Maynard, John Hutton and Andrew Jones

More articles in Health Economics from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().