When Patients Diagnose: The Effect of Patient Beliefs and Information on Provider Behavior

Anne Fitzpatrick

Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2020, vol. 69, issue 1, 51 - 72

Abstract: I conduct a randomized audit study in the Ugandan antimalarial drug market to test whether providers adjust prices or prescribing behavior when patients are less reliant on their advice. Standardized patients (SPs) purchase drugs using scripts that vary whether the SP (1) self-diagnoses malaria or asks for a diagnosis and/or (2) knows the first-line treatment or asks for a recommendation. I find that when SPs self-diagnose malaria or recite information about first-line treatment, providers charge US$0.16 (4.5%) less. However, providers are 7 percentage points (18%) less likely to advise malaria diagnostic testing, consistent with worse prescribing behavior.

Date: 2020
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