The Impact of Information Technology on the Diffusion of New Pharmaceuticals

Kenneth Arrow, L. Kamran Bilir and Alan Sorensen

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2020, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-39

Abstract: Do information differences across US physicians contribute to treatment disparities? This paper uses a unique new dataset to evaluate how changes in physician access to a decision-relevant drug database affect prescribing decisions. Our results indicate doctors using the reference have a significantly greater propensity to prescribe generic drugs, are faster to begin prescribing new generics, and prescribe a more diverse set of products. These results are consistent with database users responding primarily to the increased accessibility of non-clinical information such as pricing and insurance formulary data, and suggest improvements to physician information access have important implications for aggregate healthcare costs.

JEL-codes: D83 I11 I18 L65 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Working Paper: The Impact of Information Technology on the Diffusion of New Pharmaceuticals (2017)
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DOI: 10.1257/app.20170647

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