Using artefactual field and lab experiments to investigate how fee-for-service and capitation affect medical service provision

• Published in: Journal of economic behavior & organization Vol. 131; pp. 17 - 23
• Main Authors: Brosig-Koch, Jeannette, Hennig-Schmidt, Heike, Kairies-Schwarz, Nadja, Wiesen, Daniel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.11.2016
• Subjects: Artefactual field experiment; Capitation; Fee-for-service; Laboratory experiment; Physician behavior; Physician behavior; I11; C91; Artefactual field experiment; Laboratory experiment; Fee-for-service; Capitation
• ISSN: 0167-2681; 1879-1751
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2015.04.011

•In an artefactual field experiment, we study physicians’ response to incentives.•Physicians’ behavior is compared with medical and non-medical students in the lab.•All subject groups provide more services under fee-for-service compared to capitation.•Our findings are robust regarding subjects’ gender, age, and personal traits. We analyze how physicians, medical students, and non-medical students respond to financial incentives from fee-for-service and capitation. We employ a series of artefactual field and conventional lab experiments framed in a physician decision-making context. Physicians, participating in the field, and medical and non-medical students, participating in lab experiments, respond to the incentives in a consistent way: Significantly more medical services are provided under fee-for-service compared to capitation. The intensity by which subjects respond to incentives, however, differs by subject pool. Our findings are robust regarding subjects’ gender, age, and personality traits.