Physician Group Influences on Treatment Intensity and Health: Evidence from Physician Switchers

Joseph J. Doyle and Becky Staiger

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2025, vol. 17, issue 2, 471-505

Abstract: Treatment intensity varies remarkably across physicians, and physicians are increasingly working in groups. This paper tests whether group affiliation impacts physicians' treatment intensity and patient health. Using Medicare inpatient claims data, we focus on internists who switch groups within the same hospital. Event studies show that internists who join more-intensive groups immediately increase their own intensity, with an elasticity of 0.27. This change is reflected in higher Medicare spending due to higher-priced services. We do not detect a change in health outcomes, suggesting that treatment intensity induced by group affiliation may not be productive.

JEL-codes: H51 I11 I13 I18 J44 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20220555 (application/pdf)
https://doi.org/10.3886/E208082V2 (text/html)
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/materials/22910 (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/materials/22911 (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

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:aea:aejpol:v:17:y:2025:i:2:p:471-505

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

DOI: 10.1257/pol.20220555

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy is currently edited by Matthew Shapiro

More articles in American Economic Journal: Economic Policy from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().