Generic substitution, financial interests, and imperfect agency

Maurus Rischatsch (), Maria Trottmann () and Peter Zweifel

International Journal of Health Economics and Management, 2013, vol. 13, issue 2, 115-138

Abstract: Policy makers around the world seek to encourage generic substitution. In this paper, the importance of prescribing physicians’ imperfect agency is tested using the fact that some Swiss jurisdictions allow physicians to dispense drugs on their own account (physician dispensing, PD) while others disallow it. We estimate a model of physician drug choice with the help of drug claim data, finding a significant positive association between PD and the use of generics. While this points to imperfect agency, generics are prescribed more often to patients with high copayments or low incomes. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Keywords: Physician agency; Prescribing behavior; Drug dispensing; Generic substitution; Brand-name drugs; I10; I18; I19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10754-013-9126-5

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