Publication in JPE Microeconomics
A new paper by Alexander L.P. Willén, Rita Ginja, Julie Riise and Barton Willage published in Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics titled "Does Your Doctor Matter?"
ABSTRACT
We estimate doctor-value (VA) combining population-wide patient-doctor register data with exogeneous in the assignment of patients to GPs. We find substantial variation in the quality of GPs as measured by patients' post-assignment mortality. Certain doctor characterisitics and practice styles predict VA, but most of the variation in GP quality is driven by differences in GPs' unobserverd ability. VA variation across GPs primarly reflects differences in GPs ability to engage in prevention and assign the right procedure to the patient. Finally, patients are unable to identify who the high-quality doctors are, and patient-generated ratings are uncorrelated with GP VA.