IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/rwirep/675.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Causes of regional variation in healthcare utilization in Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Salm, Martin
  • Wübker, Ansgar

Abstract

Healthcare utilization varies widely between regions. Yet, the causes of regional variation are still not well understood, and they can also differ between countries and institutional settings. We exploit patient migration to examine which share of regional variation in ambulatory care use in Germany can be attributed to demand factors and to supply factors, respectively. Based on administrative claim-level data we find that regional variation can be overwhelmingly explained by patient characteristics. Our results contrast with previous results for other countries, and they suggest that institutional rules in Germany successfully constrain supply-side variation in ambulatory care use between German regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Salm, Martin & Wübker, Ansgar, 2017. "Causes of regional variation in healthcare utilization in Germany," Ruhr Economic Papers 675, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:675
    DOI: 10.4419/86788783
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/155284/1/880695056.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4419/86788783?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Card & Jörg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2013. "Workplace Heterogeneity and the Rise of West German Wage Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(3), pages 967-1015.
    2. Chris Bojke & Adriana Castelli & Andrew Street & Padraic Ward & Mauro Laudicella, 2013. "Regional Variation In The Productivity Of The English National Health Service," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(2), pages 194-211, February.
    3. Eibich, Peter & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2014. "Analyzing regional variation in health care utilization using (rich) household microdata," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 41-53.
    4. Amy Finkelstein & Matthew Gentzkow & Heidi Williams, 2016. "Sources of Geographic Variation in Health Care: Evidence From PatientMigration," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(4), pages 1681-1726.
    5. David Molitor, 2018. "The Evolution of Physician Practice Styles: Evidence from Cardiologist Migration," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 326-356, February.
    6. Dirk Göpffarth & Thomas Kopetsch & Hendrik Schmitz, 2016. "Determinants of Regional Variation in Health Expenditures in Germany," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(7), pages 801-815, July.
    7. Bart J. Bronnenberg & Jean-Pierre H. Dube & Matthew Gentzkow, 2012. "The Evolution of Brand Preferences: Evidence from Consumer Migration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2472-2508, October.
    8. Raj Chetty & John N. Friedman & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2014. "Measuring the Impacts of Teachers II: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2633-2679, September.
    9. Thomas Kopetsch & Hendrik Schmitz, 2014. "Regional Variation In The Utilisation Of Ambulatory Services In Germany," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(12), pages 1481-1492, December.
    10. Ozegowski, Susanne & Sundmacher, Leonie, 2014. "Understanding the gap between need and utilization in outpatient care—The effect of supply-side determinants on regional inequities," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 54-63.
    11. Oliver Reich & Cornelia Weins & Claudia Schusterschitz & Magdalena Thöni, 2012. "Exploring the disparities of regional health care expenditures in Switzerland: some empirical evidence," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 13(2), pages 193-202, April.
    12. David Prieto & Santiago Lago-Peñas, 2012. "Decomposing the determinants of health care expenditure: the case of Spain," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 13(1), pages 19-27, February.
    13. David Cutler & Jonathan Skinner & Ariel Dora Stern & David Wennberg, 2013. "Physician Beliefs and Patient Preferences: A New Look at Regional Variation in Health Care Spending," NBER Working Papers 19320, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Hendrik Jürges & Vincent Pohl, 2012. "Medical guidelines, physician density, and quality of care: evidence from German SHARE data," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 13(5), pages 635-649, October.
    15. Eibich, Peter & Ziebarth, Nicolas, 2014. "Examining the Structure of Spatial Health Effects in Germany Using Hierarchical Bayes Models," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 49, pages 305-320.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Heinrich Nils & Wübker Ansgar & Wuckel Christiane, 2018. "Waiting Times for Outpatient Treatment in Germany: New Experimental Evidence from Primary Data," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 238(5), pages 375-394, September.
    2. Godøy, Anna & Huitfeldt, Ingrid, 2020. "Regional variation in health care utilization and mortality," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    3. Rudy Douven & Minke Remmerswaal & Ana Moura & Martin Salm, 2018. "Causes of regional variation in Dutch healthcare expenditures: evidence from movers," CPB Discussion Paper 384, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    4. Ana Moura & Martin Salm & Rudy Douven & Minke Remmerswaal, 2019. "Causes of regional variation in Dutch healthcare expenditures: Evidence from movers," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(9), pages 1088-1098, September.
    5. Rouven Edgar Haschka & Katharina Schley & Helmut Herwartz, 2020. "Provision of health care services and regional diversity in Germany: insights from a Bayesian health frontier analysis with spatial dependencies," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(1), pages 55-71, February.
    6. Ana Moura & Martin Salm & Rudy Douven & Minke Remmerswaal, 2019. "Causes of regional variation in Dutch healthcare expenditures: Evidence from movers," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(9), pages 1088-1098, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Salm, Martin & Wübker, Ansgar, 2020. "Sources of regional variation in healthcare utilization in Germany," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Avdic, Daniel & Ivets, Maryna & Lagerqvist, Bo & Sriubaite, Ieva, 2023. "Providers, peers and patients. How do physicians’ practice environments affect patient outcomes?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Danny Wende, 2019. "Spatial risk adjustment between health insurances: using GWR in risk adjustment models to conserve incentives for service optimisation and reduce MAUP," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(7), pages 1079-1091, September.
    4. Ana Moura & Martin Salm & Rudy Douven & Minke Remmerswaal, 2019. "Causes of regional variation in Dutch healthcare expenditures: Evidence from movers," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(9), pages 1088-1098, September.
    5. Dirk Göpffarth & Thomas Kopetsch & Hendrik Schmitz, 2016. "Determinants of Regional Variation in Health Expenditures in Germany," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(7), pages 801-815, July.
    6. Moura, Ana, 2021. "Essays in health economics," Other publications TiSEM c93abd22-fa4a-42a5-b172-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Hinnosaar, Marit & Liu, Elaine M., 2022. "Malleability of Alcohol Consumption: Evidence from Migrants," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    8. Rouven Edgar Haschka & Katharina Schley & Helmut Herwartz, 2020. "Provision of health care services and regional diversity in Germany: insights from a Bayesian health frontier analysis with spatial dependencies," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(1), pages 55-71, February.
    9. Godøy, Anna & Huitfeldt, Ingrid, 2020. "Regional variation in health care utilization and mortality," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    10. Ivan Badinski & Amy Finkelstein & Matthew Gentzkow & Peter Hull, 2023. "Geographic Variation in Healthcare Utilization: The Role of Physicians," NBER Working Papers 31749, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Marit Hinnosaar & Elaine M. Liu, 2020. "Persistence in alcohol consumption: evidence from migrants," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 620, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    12. Błażej Łyszczarz, 2018. "Determinanty wydatków na zdrowie w gospodarstwach domowych w Polsce," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 1, pages 137-157.
    13. Torrini, Irene & Grassetti, Luca & Rizzi, Laura, 2023. "Under-spending, over-spending or substitution among services? Spatial patterns of unexplained shares of health care expenditures," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    14. Alexander Karmann & Felix Roesel, 2017. "Hospital Policy and Productivity – Evidence from German States," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(12), pages 1548-1565, December.
    15. Rudy Douven & Minke Remmerswaal & Ana Moura & Martin Salm, 2018. "Causes of regional variation in Dutch healthcare expenditures: evidence from movers," CPB Discussion Paper 384, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    16. Thomas Kopetsch & Hendrik Schmitz, 2014. "Regional Variation In The Utilisation Of Ambulatory Services In Germany," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(12), pages 1481-1492, December.
    17. Amy Finkelstein & Matthew Gentzkow & Heidi Williams, 2021. "Place-Based Drivers of Mortality: Evidence from Migration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(8), pages 2697-2735, August.
    18. Wende, Danny & Kopetsch, Thomas & Richter, Wolfram F., 2020. "Planning health care capacities with a gravity equation," Ruhr Economic Papers 888, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    19. Christian Posso & Jorge Tamayo & Arlen Guarin & Estefania Saravia, 2024. "Luck of the Draw: The Causal Effect of Physicians on Birth Outcomes," Borradores de Economia 1269, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    20. Janet M. Currie & W. Bentley MacLeod, 2018. "Understanding Doctor Decision Making: The Case of Depression," NBER Working Papers 24955, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Healthcare spending; regional variation; Germany;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:675. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rwiesde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.