Health Care Management Papers
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
3-2011
Publication Source
Journal of Health Economics
Volume
30
Issue
2
Start Page
381
Last Page
391
DOI
10.1016/j.jhealeco.2010.11.007
Abstract
Little is known about the ability of incentives to influence decisions by physicians regarding choices of settings for care delivery. In the context of outpatient procedural care, the emergence of freestanding ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) as alternatives to hospital-based outpatient departments (HOPDs) creates a unique opportunity to study this question. We advance a model where physicians’ division of labor between ASCs and HOPDs affects the medical complexity of patients treated in low-acuity settings (i.e. ASCs). Analyses of outpatient surgical procedure data show that physicians working exclusively in low-acuity settings (i.e. ASCs) treat patients of significantly higher medical complexity in these settings than do physicians who also practice in higher-acuity settings (i.e. HOPDs). This discrepancy shrinks with increasing procedural risk and with increasing distance between ASCs and acute care hospitals.
Copyright/Permission Statement
© 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords
outpatient care, patient selection, physician behavior
Recommended Citation
David, G., & Neuman, M. D. (2011). Physician Division of Labor and Patient Selection for Outpatient Procedures. Journal of Health Economics, 30 (2), 381-391. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhealeco.2010.11.007
Included in
Health Economics Commons, Health Services Research Commons, Medical Education Commons, Other Public Health Commons
Date Posted: 27 November 2017
This document has been peer reviewed.