Time Constraints and the Quality of Physician Care

Alquezar-Yus, M.;

Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers from HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York

Abstract: This paper studies how time constraints affect the quality of physician care. Insufficient examination time may hamper physicians’ care and diagnostic provision, leaving physicians more inclined to over-prescribe medication. I test this prediction using high frequency data from a Spanish outpatient department and leverage on-the-day cancellations as random time shocks. I find that longer visits lead to better care, measured by providing more detailed diagnoses, higher testing intensity, and lower drug prescriptions. These effects are driven by junior physicians, who use this extra time to compensate for their more overloaded shifts.

Keywords: healthcare productivity; quantity-quality trade-off; contracts; decision-making (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H0 I0 J0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:yor:hectdg:23/06

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