Too many cooks could spoil the broth: choice overload and the provision of ambulatory health care

Helmut Herwartz () and Christoph Strumann ()
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Helmut Herwartz: University of Goettingen
Christoph Strumann: University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Luebeck

International Journal of Health Economics and Management, 2024, vol. 24, issue 3, No 2, 357-373

Abstract: Abstract Patient empowerment calls for an intensified participation of (informed) patients with more treatment opportunities to choose from. A growing body of literature argues that confronting consumers with too many opportunities can lead to a choice overload (CO) resulting in uncertainty that the selected alternative dominates all other options in the choice set. We examine whether there is a CO effect in the demand for ambulatory health care in Germany by analyzing the association of medical specialists supply on so-called patients’ health uncertainty. Further, we investigate if the CO effect is smaller in areas with a higher density of general practitioners (GPs). We find that patients who live in an area with a large supply of specialists are subject to a CO effect that is expressed by an increased health uncertainty. The coordinating role of GPs seems to be effective to reduce the CO effect, while preserving free consumer choice.

Keywords: Choice overload; Patient choice; Health care coordination; Spatial distribution of health services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 C23 D12 D83 I12 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s10754-024-09379-y

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