Can Contingency Fee Reforms Improve Maternal & Infant Health? Evidence from Nevada

DeCicca Philip and Malak Natalie ()
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DeCicca Philip: Dept of Economics, Ball State University and NBER, Muncie, USA
Malak Natalie: Dept of Economics and Computational Analysis, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, USA

The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2021, vol. 21, issue 4, 1185-1215

Abstract: Contingency fee laws are intended to reduce the amount of defensive medicine practiced by physicians, but their impact on such behavior is theoretically ambiguous. While nearly half of all states have adopted some type of contingency fee laws, very little empirical evidence exists with respect to related impacts, and no rigorous studies examine their potential impacts on health. We examine the impact of a particular contingency fee reform that occurred in Nevada in 2004 using synthetic control methods. Consistent with our expectations, we find a systematic increase in the C-section rate of less-educated mothers in Nevada after implementation of the reform. However, we find no systematic effect on infant mortality, suggesting that contingency reforms contribute to an increase in defensive medicine without a corresponding improvement in health.

Keywords: defensive medicine; C-section; infant mortality; contingency fee; tort reform; medical malpractice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I18 K13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2020-0439

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