Does telemedicine affect prescribing quality in primary care?

Daniel Avdic (), Johannes S. Kunz (), Susan Mendez and Maria Wisniewska ()
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Johannes S. Kunz: Monash University
Maria Wisniewska: Monash University

No 2024-09, Working Papers from Centre for Health Economics, Monash University

Abstract: We study how the diffusion of telemedicine technology impacted the quality and rates of antibiotic prescriptions using Australian survey data from primary care physicians linked to administrative records on their service provision. We classify physicians based on their relative use of telemedicine consultations in response to the introduction of government-subsidised telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic and relate their rates of antibiotic prescriptions to indicators of prescribing quality before and after lockdown periods in a difference-in-differences design. Our results suggest that more frequent users of telemedicine prescribe relatively fewer antibiotics while keeping prescribing quality largely unchanged. We interpret these findings as evidence that telemedicine can enhance efficiency of service provision in primary care settings.

Keywords: telemedicine; primary care; quality of care; antibiotics; difference-in- differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H41 I11 I13 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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Working Paper: Does telemedicine affect prescribing quality in primary care? (2024)
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