Doctor Decision Making and Patient Outcomes

Janet Currie, Bentley MacLeod and Kate Musen
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Janet Currie: Yale University
Bentley MacLeod: Yale University
Kate Musen: Columbia University

No 2488, Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers from Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University

Abstract: Doctors often treat similar patients differently, which affects health outcomes and medical spending. We assess the recent literature on doctor decision making through the lens of a model that incorporates diagnostic and procedural skills, beliefs, incentives, and differences in patient pools. Decision making is affected by beliefs, training, experience, peer effects, financial incentives, and time constraints. Interventions to improve decision making include providing information, guidelines, and technologies like electronic medical records and algorithmic decision tools. Economists have made progress in understanding doctor decision making, but applications of that knowledge to improving health care are still limited.

Pages: 105 pages
Date: 2025-07-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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