The Effect of Primary Care Visits on Health Care Utilization: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial / Cathy J. Bradley, David Neumark, Lauryn Saxe Walker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bradley, Cathy J.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Neumark, David.

Saxe Walker, Lauryn.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w24100.

NBER working paper series no. w24100

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Effect of Primary Care Visits on Health Care Utilization

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2017.

Summary:

We conducted a randomized controlled trial, enrolling low-income uninsured adults in Virginia (United States), to determine whether cash incentives are effective at encouraging a primary care provider (PCP) visit, and at lowering utilization and costs. Subjects were randomized to four groups: untreated controls, and one of three incentive arms with incentives of $0, $25, or $50 for visiting a PCP within six months of group assignment. We used the exogenous variation generated by the experiment to obtain causal evidence on the effects of a PCP visit. We observed modest reductions in non-urgent emergency department use and increased outpatient use, but no reductions in overall costs. These findings in utilization are consistent with the expectation that PCPs offer an alternative to the emergency department for non-emergent conditions. Total costs did not decline because any savings from avoiding the emergency department were offset by increased outpatient utilization.

Notes:

Print version record

December 2017.