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The Effectiveness of Health Screening

Author

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  • Hackl, Franz

    (University of Linz)

  • Halla, Martin

    (WU Vienna University of Economics and Business)

  • Hummer, Michael

    (University of Linz)

  • Pruckner, Gerald J.

    (University of Linz)

Abstract

Using a matched insurant-general practitioner panel data set, we estimated the effect of a general health-screening program on individuals' health status and health care cost. To account for selection into treatment, we used regional variations in the intensity of exposure to supply-determined screening recommendations as an instrumental variable. We found that screening participation substantially increased inpatient and outpatient health care costs for up to two years after treatment. In the medium term, we found cost savings in the outpatient sector, whereas in the long run, no statistically significant effects of screening on either health care cost component could be discerned. In summary, screening participation increases health care costs. Since we did not find any statistically significant effect of screening participation on insurants' health status at any point in time, we do not recommend a general health-screening program. However, given that we found some evidence for cost-saving potentials for the sub-sample of younger insurants, we suggest more targeted screening programs.

Suggested Citation

  • Hackl, Franz & Halla, Martin & Hummer, Michael & Pruckner, Gerald J., 2012. "The Effectiveness of Health Screening," IZA Discussion Papers 6310, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp6310
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    Cited by:

    1. Alexander Ahammer & Thomas Schober, 2020. "Exploring variations in health‐care expenditures—What is the role of practice styles?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 683-699, June.
    2. Norman Bannenberg & Oddvar Førland & Tor Iversen & Martin Karlsson & Henning Øien, 2021. "Preventive Home Visits," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(4), pages 457-496.
    3. Gerald J. Pruckner & Thomas Schober & Katrin Zocher, 2020. "The company you keep: health behavior among work peers," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(2), pages 251-259, March.
    4. Cheolmin Kang & Akira Kawamura & Haruko Noguchi, 2021. "Benefits of knowing own health status: effects of health check-ups on health behaviours and labour participation," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(11), pages 926-931, June.
    5. Senay Topal & Patrick Richard & John Young & Anuradha Ganesan & Todd Gleeson & Jason Blaylock & Jason F. Okulicz & Xiuping Chu & Brian K. Agan, 2024. "Mandated checkups, knowledge of own health status, and chronic care utilization: The effect of HIV medical evaluation mandates on healthcare quality and expenditure in a US‐single payer system," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 59-81, January.
    6. Oikawa, M., 2020. "The effect of education on health policy reform: Evidence from Japan," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 20/08, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    7. Kim, Hyuncheol Bryant & Lee, Suejin & Lim, Wilfredo, 2017. "Knowing Is Not Half the Battle: Impacts of the National Health Screening Program in Korea," IZA Discussion Papers 10650, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Jakub Sopko, 2020. "An overview of selected risk factors for health in OECD countries," Proceedings of Economics and Finance Conferences 10913074, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    9. Nadine Chami & Arthur Sweetman, 2019. "Payment models in primary health care: A driver of the quantity and quality of medical laboratory utilization," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(10), pages 1166-1178, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    mortality; health screening; health care costs; sick leave;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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