Friday 8 February 2019

The contribution of patients and providers to the overuse of prescription drugs

a column by Carolina Lopez, Anja Sautmann and Simone Schaner for VOX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

Healthcare systems around the world battle high rates of over-treatment.

This column investigates the role of patient demand in this, using a randomised evaluation of malaria treatment at public health clinics in Mali.

It finds no evidence of doctors attempting to increase treatment rates or intensity, instead heightened demand from patients sometimes pressured doctors into going against their own professional judgement and writing a prescription anyway. In such situations, interventions that make it easier for doctors to resist patient demands could help sustain subsidies and reduce over-treatment.

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