Unit 5

Question 1

how do we analyze physician behaviour

Answer 1

prediction of physical sector reform and provide insights into observed behaviour

Question 2

why is the physician services market not perfectly competitive

Answer 2

physicians derive market power from the asymmetry of information, and the regulations designed to address informational asymmetry reduce the competitive pressures on physicians

Question 3

why is medicine a self-regulating profession

Answer 3

because of informational problems

Question 4

what three elements are included in economic models of physicians and their practices

Answer 4

the objective function, the production function, and a series of constraints

Question 5

what is the objective of a physician

Answer 5

to include income, leisure, and practicing in a manner consistent with professional ethics

Question 6

what is incomplete vertical integration

Question 7

what is the goal of the transactions costs model

Answer 7

it drops the assumption of unitary control and emphasizes the split organization of a hospital

Question 8

what is local monopoly

Question 9

what does market concentration represent

Answer 9

the extent to which a small number of hospitals account for a large share of hospital activity in a region

Question 10

what was created from internal market

Answer 10

a public market for hospital services by creating a purchaser-provider split

Question 11

what is purchaser-provider split

Answer 11

the separation of the demand for and supply of services

Question 12

what does the frontier cost estimation represent

Answer 12

the effect and cost associated with different treatment alternatives

Question 13

what does the non distribution constraint mean

Answer 13

that such organizations are not allowed to distribute profits to stakeholders or employees

Question 14

what are the effects of a fee increase on the backward bending labor supply curve

Answer 14

it reduces physical labor supply, it increases the desired ratio of non-physician to physician inputs, and it encourages the substitution of non-physician inputs for physician labor

Question 15

what is suggested by the target income model

Answer 15

that physicians have a target income and they adjust their service activity to achieve their target income

Question 16

what is the backward bending labor supply curve

Answer 16

the portion of the labor supply curve above W*

Question 17

what is depicted by the labor supply curve

Answer 17

the numbers of hours a person would work at each wage level

Question 18

what is a implicit wage

Answer 18

the net income of the practice divided by the number of hours the physician works

Question 19

what is extra billing

Answer 19

charging a fee above the public reimbursement

Question 20

what has changed for the type of physicians

Answer 20

there has been a higher proportion of older, and female physicians

Question 21

what has happened since the supply of primary care physicians has grown

Answer 21

their rate of clinical activity has declined

Question 22

list a reason for male physicians having a higher activity rate than female physicians

Answer 22

female physicians spend longer with patients causing a lower number of consultant episodes

Question 23

what are the three distinct elements of the physician services sector

Answer 23

market for physician services, physicians themselves, and physicians practices

Question 24

why is a fee-for-service system bad for health care providers

Answer 24

they may have a certain incentive to do more drastic procedures

Question 25

what do A, I, M depend on

Answer 25

level of consumer prices, price of medical services, price of non-physicians inputs, and non-practice income

Question 26

what does the labor supply curve represent

Answer 26

the number of hours a person would work at each wage level

Question 27

what is represented from the target income model

Answer 27

that when fees go up, activity goes down; and when fees go down, activity goes up