Pharmaceutical Demand Estimation with Agency Problem and Universal Coverage: Evidence from the Taiwanese Market for Oral Anti-diabetics
2016/05/31
研討會日期 : 2016-05-31
時間 : 14:30
主講人 : Professor Meng-Chi Tang
主持人 : Professor Tzu-Ting Yang
地點 : Conference Room B110
演講者簡介 : Professor Tang received his Ph.D. in Economics at Michigan State University in 2009. He is currently an Associate Professor at National Chung Cheng University. His research fields are Empirical IO (with focus on Health Industry and Contract Theory) and Applied Micro (Trade, Health, Family).
演講摘要 : Patients are the consumers in pharmaceutical market, but medical providers are the ones who decide the medication for patients. The prescription decisions are thus based on not only the patients’ utility but also the medical providers’ interests. This paper investigates the effect of medical provider agency on the demand of oral anti-diabetic drugs in Taiwan, where medical providers can both dispense and prescribe medications under a universal health care system. Using millions of detailed claims information with the characteristics of drugs, patients, physicians and hospitals, empirical results from a structural model show that the agency effects are substantial. Owners of medical institution are more likely to prescribe generic drugs and expensive drugs. These drugs, however, are less likely to be prescribed by the medical providers owned by government. Expensive drugs are also likely to be prescribed when the reimbursement value of the claim is high or the insurance coverage of patients’ expense is large. Regression controlling endogenous product characteristics shows that the pharmaceutical demand curve is downward sloping and price elastic, with the average estimate of price elasticity about -9.82. Medical providers are found to be much more price sensitive to brand-name drugs than generic ones.
