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Old Boys’ Network in General Practitioner’s Referral Behavior

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  • Franz Hackl
  • Michael Hummer
  • Gerald Pruckner

Abstract

We analyzed the impact of social networks on general practitioners’ (GPs) referral behavior based on administrative panel data from 2,684,273 referrals to resident specialists made between 1998 and 2007. To construct estimated social networks, we used information on the doctors’ place and time of study and their hospital work history. We found that GPs referred more patients to specialists within their social networks and that patients referred within a social network had fewer follow-up consultations and were healthier as measured by the number of inpatient days. Consequently, referrals within social networks tended to decrease healthcare costs by overcoming information asymmetry with respect to specialists’ abilities. This is supported by evidence suggesting that within a social network, better specialists receive more referrals than worse specialists in the same network.

Suggested Citation

  • Franz Hackl & Michael Hummer & Gerald Pruckner, 2013. "Old Boys’ Network in General Practitioner’s Referral Behavior," Economics working papers 2013-10, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
  • Handle: RePEc:jku:econwp:2013_10
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    Cited by:

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    2. Frimmel, Wolfgang & Pruckner, Gerald J., 2020. "Retirement and healthcare utilization," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    3. Barkowski, Scott, 2021. "Physician Response to Prices of Other Physicians: Evidence from a Field Experiment," MPRA Paper 108966, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Kummer, Michael E. & Laitenberger, Ulrich & Rich, Cyrus E. & Hughes, Danny R. & Ayer, Turgay, 2021. "Healthy reviews! Online physician ratings reduce healthcare interruptions," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-075, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Alexander Ahammer, 2018. "Physicians, sick leave certificates, and patients' subsequent employment outcomes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(6), pages 923-936, June.
    6. Berger, Michael & Czypionka, Thomas, 2021. "Regional medical practice variation in high-cost healthcare services: evidence from diagnostic imaging in Austria," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112952, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Steinhauer, Andreas & Bíró, Anikó & Dieterle, Steven, 2019. "Motherhood Timing and the Child Penalty: Bounding the Returns to Delay," CEPR Discussion Papers 13732, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Referral behavior; general practitioners; information asymmetry; social networks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets

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