Learning and the value of information: Evidence from health plan report cards

Journal of Econometrics

Volumn 144, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 156-174

  Chernew, Michael ^a,d   Gowrisankaran, Gautam ^b,d   Scanlon, Dennis P ^c  

^a HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA   (United States)

^c PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^d NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH   (United States)

Author keywords

Bayesian learning models; Health plan choice; Health plan quality; Information; Managed care; Report cards; Uncertainty

Indexed keywords

BAYESIAN NETWORKS; HEALTH CARE; INFORMATION ANALYSIS; MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD; PARAMETER ESTIMATION; PERSONNEL;

BAYESIAN LEARNING MODELS; BINOMIAL SIGNALS; HEALTH PLAN CHOICE; HEALTH PLAN QUALITY;

LEARNING SYSTEMS;

EID: 42949134999     PISSN: 03044076     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jeconom.2008.01.001     Document Type: Article

References (32)

1. Ackerberg D.A. Advertising, learning, and consumer choice in experience good markets: a structural empirical examination. International Economic Review 44 (2003) 1007-1040
2. Akerlof G.A. The market for 'lemons': quality uncertainty and the market mechanism. Quarterly Journal of Economics 84 (1970) 488-500
3. Arrow K. Uncertainty and the welfare economics of medical care. American Economic Review 53 5 (1963) 941-973
4. Beaulieu N. Quality information and consumer health plan choices. Journal of Health Economics 21 1 (2002) 43-63
5. Berry S.T. Estimating discrete-choice models of product differentiation. RAND Journal of Economics 25 (1994) 242-262
6. Buchmueller T.C., and Feldstein P. The effect of price on switching among health plans. Journal of Health Economics 16 (1997) 231-247
7. Cardell N.S. Variance components structures for the extreme-value and logistic distributions with application to models of heterogeneity. Econometric Theory 13 (1997) 185-213
8. Chernew M., Gowrisankaran G., McLaughlin C., and Gibson T. Quality and employers' choice of health plan. Journal of Health Economics 23 (2004) 471-492
9. Crawford G.S., and Shum M. Uncertainty and learning in pharmaceutical demand. Econometrica 73 (2005) 1137-1174
10. Cutler D.M., and Reber S.J. Paying for health insurance: the trade-off between competition and adverse selection. Quarterly Journal of Economics 113 2 (1998) 438-466
11. Cutler D.M., McClellan M., and Newhouse J.P. How does managed care do it?. RAND Journal of Economics (2000) 526-548
12. Dafny, Leemore, Dranove, David, 2006. Do Report Cards Tell Consumers Anything They Don't Already Know? The Case of Medicare HMOs. Mimeo, Northwestern University.
13. DeGroot M.H. Optimal Statistical Decisions (1970), McGraw-Hill, New York
14. Dranove, D., Kessler, D., McClellan, M., Satterthwaite, M., 2002. Is more information better? The effects of 'report cards' on health care providers. NBER Working Paper 8697.
15. Erdem T., and Keane M. Decision making under uncertainty: capturing dynamic brand choice processes in turbulent consumer goods markets. Marketing Science 15 (1996) 1-20
16. Geweke J., Gowrisankaran G., and Town R.J. Bayesian inference for hospital quality in a selection model. Econometrica 71 (2003) 1215-1238
17. Hibbard J.H., and Jewett J.J. What type of quality information do consumers want in a health care report card?. Medical Care Research and Review 53 (1996) 28-47
18. Hibbard J.H., Slovic P., and Jewett J.J. Informing consumer decisions in health care: implications from decision-making research. Milbank Quarterly 75 (1997) 395-414
19. Hibbard J.H., Harris-Kojetin L., Mullin P., Lubalin J., and Garfinkel S. Increasing the impact of health plan report cards by addressing consumers' concerns. Health Affairs 19 (2000) 138-143
20. InterStudy. The Competitive Edge (1996/1997), InterStudy Publications, St. Paul, MN
21. Jin G.Z., and Sorensen A. Information and consumer choice: the value of publicized health plan ratings. Journal of Health Economics 25 (2006) 248-275
22. Lichtenberg F.R. Are the benefits of newer drugs worth their cost? Evidence from the 1996 MEPS. Health Affairs 20 5 (2001) 241-251
23. Lichtenberg, F., 2002. Sources of US Longevity Increase, 1960-1997. NBER Working Paper 8755, Cambridge, MA.
24. Robinson S., and Brodie M. Understanding the quality challenge for health consumers: the Kaiser/AHCPR survey. Journal on Quality Improvement 23 (1997) 239-244
25. Rothschild M., and Stiglitz J.E. Equilibrium in competitive insurance markets: an essay on the economics of imperfect information. Quarterly Journal of Economics 90 (1976) 630-649
26. Royalty A.B., and Solomon N. Health plan choice: price elasticities in a managed competition setting. Journal of Human Resources 34 (1999) 1-41
27. Scanlon D.P., Chernew M.E., Sheffler S., and Fendrick A.M. Health plan report cards: exploring differences in plan ratings. Joint Commission Journal on Quality Improvement 24 1 (1998) 5-20
28. Scanlon D.P., Chernew M.E., McLaughlin C.G., and Solon G. The impact of health plan report cards on managed care enrollment. Journal of Health Economics 21 (2002) 19-41
29. Sorensen A. Social learning and health plan choice. RAND Journal of Economics 37 (2006) 929-945
30. Stiglitz J.E. Imperfect information in the product market. In: Schmalensee R., and Willig R.D. (Eds). Handbook of Industrial Organization vol. 1 (1989), North-Holland, Amsterdam
31. Tumlinson A., Bottigheimer H., Mahoney P., Stone E.M., and Hendricks A. Choosing a health plan: what information will consumers use?. Health Affairs 16 (1997) 229-238
32. Wedig G.J., and Tai-Seale M. The effect of report cards on consumer choice in the health insurance market. Journal of Health Economics 21 (2002) 1031-1048