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Lead me not into temptation: drug price regulation and dispensing physicians in Switzerland

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  • Maurus Rischatsch

Abstract

While most countries separate drug prescription and dispensation to ensure independent drug choice, some allow this combination to increase pharmaceutical access in rural areas or to increase the utilization of pharmacist skills. A drawback of this approach is that dispensing physicians or prescribing pharmacists may be incentivized to increase their own profits through the prescription of cost-inefficient drug packages, leading to an increase in pharmaceutical spending. Switzerland constitutes an interesting example of where dispensing and non-dispensing physicians coexist, permitting a comparison of their prescribing behavior. The present study shows that drug margin optimization is possible under the current drug price regulation scheme in Switzerland. Using drug claims data, empirical findings indicate a 5–10 % higher margin per dose for dispensing physicians compared to pharmacists. Cost per dose is 3–5 % higher when dispensed by physicians instead of pharmacists. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Maurus Rischatsch, 2014. "Lead me not into temptation: drug price regulation and dispensing physicians in Switzerland," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(7), pages 697-708, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:15:y:2014:i:7:p:697-708
    DOI: 10.1007/s10198-013-0515-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Manning, Willard G., 1998. "The logged dependent variable, heteroscedasticity, and the retransformation problem," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 283-295, June.
    2. Maurus Rischatsch & Maria Trottmann & Peter Zweifel, 2013. "Generic substitution, financial interests, and imperfect agency," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 115-138, June.
    3. Manning, Willard G. & Mullahy, John, 2001. "Estimating log models: to transform or not to transform?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 461-494, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Burkhard & Christian P. R. Schmid & Kaspar Wüthrich, 2019. "Financial incentives and physician prescription behavior: Evidence from dispensing regulations," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(9), pages 1114-1129, September.
    2. Müller, Tobias & Schmid, Christian & Gerfin, Michael, 2023. "Rents for Pills: Financial incentives and physician behavior," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    3. Olivia Bodnar & Hugh Gravelle & Nils Gutacker & Annika Herr, 2024. "Financial incentives and prescribing behavior in primary care," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(4), pages 696-713, April.
    4. Rischatsch, Maurus, 2015. "Who joins the network? Physicians’ resistance to take budgetary co-responsibility," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 109-121.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Physician dispensing; Prescribing behavior; Pharmaceutical pricing; Physician agency; I10; I11; C11; C54;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General
    • C54 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Quantitative Policy Modeling

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