Rewards for information provision in patient referrals: A theoretical model and an experimental test

Jeannette Brosig-Koch, Malte Griebenow, Mathias Kifmann and Franziska Then

Journal of Health Economics, 2022, vol. 86, issue C

Abstract: We study whether bonus payments for information provision can improve the information flow between physicians. A primary care physician (PCP) decides on the provision of information of varying qualities to a specialist while referring a patient. Our theoretical model, which includes altruism and loss aversion, predicts that bonus payments increase the provision of both high- and low-quality information. Running a controlled laboratory experiment we find support for this prediction. If the beneficiary of information provision receives a higher payoff than the PCP, we observe that PCPs more often pass on high-quality information when the beneficiary is a patient. If the beneficiary receives a lower payoff than the PCP, the type of the beneficiary (specialist or patient) does not affect the provision of high-quality information.

Keywords: Referral; Information; Theoretical model; Laboratory experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D47 I11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:86:y:2022:i:c:s0167629622000923

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2022.102677

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