Heterogeneity in Cost-Sharing and Cost-Sensitivity, and the Role of the Prescribing Physician

Mariana Carrera, Dana Goldman and Geoffrey Joyce ()

No 19186, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: In this paper, we use individual level data on purchases of one of the most prescribed categories of drugs (cholesterol-lowering statins) to study the responses of physicians and patients to variation in the cost of drugs. In a sample of first-time statin prescriptions to employees from a group of Fortune 500 firms, we find that copay variation across plans has a relatively small effect on the choice of drug, and this effect does not vary with patient income. After the highly-publicized expiration of the patent for Zocor (simvastatin), however, prescriptions for this drug increased substantially, especially for lower-income patients. Our analysis suggests that physicians can perceive the adherence elasticity of their patients and adjust their initial prescriptions accordingly, but only in response to a large and universal price change. Using prescriber identifiers, we present suggestive evidence that physicians learn about a patient's price sensitivity through their own experience of prescribing to that patient.

JEL-codes: I1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-06
Note: EH
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Published as Mariana Carrera, Dana P. Goldman, Geoffrey Joyce, and Neeraj Sood. “Do Physicians Respond to the Costs and Cost-Sensitivity of Their Patients?” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Vol. 10, No. 1, February 2018 (pp. 113-52)

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