Primary care competition and quality of care: Empirical evidence from Medicare

Christopher S. Brunt, Joshua Hendrickson and John R. Bowblis

Health Economics, 2020, vol. 29, issue 9, 1048-1061

Abstract: In this paper, we explore the effects of primary care physician (PCP) practice competition on five distinct quality metrics directly tied to screening, follow‐up care, and prescribing behavior under Medicare Part B and D. Controlling for physician, practice, and area characteristics as well as zip code fixed effects, we find strong evidence that PCP practices in more concentrated areas provide lower quality of care. More specifically, PCPs in more concentrated areas are less likely to perform screening and follow‐up care for high blood pressure, unhealthy bodyweight, and tobacco use. They are also less likely to document current medications. Furthermore, PCPs in more concentrated areas have a higher amount of opioid prescriptions as a fraction of total prescriptions.

Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4119

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:29:y:2020:i:9:p:1048-1061

Access Statistics for this article

Health Economics is currently edited by Alan Maynard, John Hutton and Andrew Jones

More articles in Health Economics from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().