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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Does Regulation Of Physicians Reduce Health Care Spending?, Scott Barkowski
Does Regulation Of Physicians Reduce Health Care Spending?, Scott Barkowski
Publications
The medical community argues that physician fear of legal liability increases health care spending. Theoretically, though, the effect could be positive or negative, and empirical evidence has supported both cases. Previous studies, however, have ignored the fact that physicians face risk from industry oversight groups like state-level medical licensing boards in addition to civil litigation risk. This article addresses this omission by incorporating previously unused data on punishments by oversight groups against physicians, known as adverse actions, along with malpractice payments data to study state-level health care spending. My analysis suggests that, contrary to conventional wisdom, spending does not rise …
Does Defensive Medicine Reduce Health Care Spending?, Scott Barkowski
Does Defensive Medicine Reduce Health Care Spending?, Scott Barkowski
Publications
The medical community often argues that physician fear of legal liability increases health care spending. Theoretically, though, the effect could be positive or negative, and empirical evidence has supported both cases. Previous empirical work, however, has ignored the fact that physicians face risk from industry oversight groups like state-level medical licensing boards in addition to civil litigation risk. This paper addresses this omission by incorporating previously unused data on punishments by oversight groups against physicians, known as adverse actions, along with malpractice payments data to study state-level health care spending. My analysis suggests that health care spending does not rise …