Primary Care Physician Practice Styles and Patient Care: Evidence from Physician Exits in Medicare

40 Pages Posted: 18 Sep 2019 Last revised: 11 Apr 2024

See all articles by Itzik Fadlon

Itzik Fadlon

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Jessica Van Parys

Hunter College, CUNY

Date Written: September 2019

Abstract

Primary care physicians (PCPs) provide frontline health care to patients in the U.S.; however, it is unclear how their practice styles affect patient care. In this paper, we estimate the long-lasting effects of PCP practice styles on patient health care utilization by focusing on Medicare patients affected by PCP relocations or retirements, which we refer to as "exits." Observing where patients receive care after these exits, we estimate event studies to compare patients who switch to PCPs with different practice style intensities. We find that PCPs have large effects on a range of aggregate utilization measures, including physician and outpatient spending and the number of diagnosed conditions. Moreover, we find that PCPs have large effects on the quality of care that patients receive, and that all of these effects persist for several years. Our results suggest that switching to higher-quality PCPs could significantly affect patients' longer-run health outcomes.

Suggested Citation

Fadlon, Itzik and Van Parys, Jessica, Primary Care Physician Practice Styles and Patient Care: Evidence from Physician Exits in Medicare (September 2019). NBER Working Paper No. w26269, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3454370

Itzik Fadlon (Contact Author)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Jessica Van Parys

Hunter College, CUNY ( email )

695 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10065
United States

HOME PAGE: http://econ.hunter.cuny.edu/faculty/economics-faculty/jessica-van-parys/

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