LENGTH OF GP CONSULTATION WITHIN TWO PAYMENT SCHEMES

Olivier L'Haridon (1) , Alain Panaponaris (2) , Camelia Protopopescu (2, 3) , Bruno Ventelou (2, 4)

1 GRID - Groupe de Recherche sur le risque, l'Information et la Décision
2 Epidémiologie et Sciences Sociales Appliquées à l'Innovation Médicale
3 ORS PACA - Observatoire régional de la santé Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur [Marseille]
4 GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille

This article presents an adaptation of the labour supply model applied to the independent medical in which doctor's choice of the length of consultations is examined. A theoretical analysis is performed in an attempt to define the sets of constraints to which self-employed doctors are subject, and they show a marked difference in time-allocation behaviour according to whether medical care is provided under a fixed-fee scheme or under an unregulated-fees scheme, respectively “sector 1” and “sector 2” in France. The objective of this econometric study was to analyse time-allocation choices made by doctors in both sectors in France and to validate the theoretical prediction that doctors under unregulated-fees can make choices about the length of patient consultations independently of their personal leisure choices. According to our empirical results, doctors with unregulated-fees indeed show different behaviours regarding leisure-consumption choices and consultation length. The endogeneity of leisure choice to consultation length –verified in fixed-fee scheme- is no longer apparent under unregulated-fee. Our findings can be seen as a necessary, but insufficient, condition for legitimate unregulated fees in general practice.

Mots clés: leisure trade-off; Working time; Consultation duration; payment schemes; General practitioners; Simultaneous equations

Domaines: Economies et finances

Olivier L'Haridon, Alain Panaponaris, Camelia Protopopescu, Bruno Ventelou. LENGTH OF GP CONSULTATION WITHIN TWO PAYMENT SCHEMES. 2008. ⟨halshs-00347449⟩