Geir Godager

• Ge, Ge; Godager, Geir & Wang, Jian (2022). Exploring physician agency under demand-side cost sharing—An experimental approach. Health Economics. ISSN 1057-9230. 31(6), p. 1202–1227. doi: 10.1002/hec.4489. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The assumption of patient-regarding physicians has been widely adopted in the health economics literature. Physicians' patient-regarding preferences are often described as the concern for the health benefits of medical treatments, and thus closely related to the norms and ethics of the Medical profession. In this paper, we ask whether physicians' patient-regarding preferences include a concern for their patient's consumption opportunities alongside patient's health benefits. To identify and quantify patient-regarding preferences, we design and conduct an incentivized laboratory experiment where choices determine separately the health benefit and the consumption opportunities of a real patient admitted to the nearest hospital. We find strong evidence that future physicians care about their patients' consumption opportunities.

• Godager, Geir; Iversen, Tor & Snilsberg, Øyvind (2021). Betalingsmåter for teamarbeid i primærhelsetjenesten. In Botten, Grete Synøve (Eds.), Mangfold og engasjement i ti år. Institutt for helse og samfunn ved Universitetet i Oslo 2010-2020.. Norwegian Medical Society. ISSN 978-82-92871-76-8. p. 100–109.
• Ge, Ge & Godager, Geir (2021). Data from an incentivized laboratory experiment on strategic medical choices. Data in Brief. ISSN 2352-3409. 35. doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2021.106926.
• Ge, Ge & Godager, Geir (2021). Predicting strategic medical choices: An application of a quantal response equilibrium choice model. Journal of Choice Modelling. ISSN 1755-5345. 39, p. 1–14. doi: 10.1016/j.jocm.2021.100282. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Quantal response equilibrium choice (QREC) models are structural behavioral models that account for bounded rationality and strategic interactions in analyses of games where each player’s payoff is a vector. We revisit the question of how market competition affects pro-social behavior and fit a QREC model to data from an incentivized laboratory experiment, where the participants make decisions on medical treatment for abstract patients in monopoly, duopoly and quadropoly games. Our results demonstrate that competition can cause substantial behavioral responses without any changes in pro-social preferences if one allows for the possibility that competition influences the degree of randomness in decision-making. We find that a QREC model with fixed preference parameters provides precise out-of-sample predictions of behavior in games with vector payoffs. A Monte Carlo study is performed to show that the two-step estimator is accurate.

• Cheo, Roland; Ge, Ge; Godager, Geir; Liu, Rugang; Wang, Jian & Wang, Qiqi (2020). The effect of a mystery shopper scheme on prescribing behavior in primary care: Results from a field experiment. Health Economics Review. ISSN 2191-1991. 10(33). doi: 10.1186/s13561-020-00290-z. Full text in Research Archive
• Wang, Jian; Iversen, Tor; Hennig-Schmidt, Heike & Godager, Geir (2020). Are patient-regarding preferences stable? Evidence from a laboratory experiment with physicians and medical students from different countries. European Economic Review. ISSN 0014-2921. 125. doi: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2020.103411. Full text in Research Archive
• Iversen, Tor & Godager, Geir (2017). Fastlegen som portvakt. Michael. ISSN 1893-9651. 14(19), p. 43–59. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I denne artikkelen viser vi hvordan en ordning med primærlegen som portvakt til spesialisthelsetjenesten kan medføre mer effektiv bruk av samfunnets ressurser. Siden primærlegen oftest har bedre diagnostiske kunnskaper enn pasientene, vil primærlegen kunne være bedre enn pasientene til å sortere hvilke pasienter som bør henvises til spesialisthelsetjenesten og hvilke pasienter primærlegen kan diagnostisere og behandle selv. En portvaktordning vil slik kunne bidra til en mer effektiv arbeidsdeling i helsesektoren. I situasjoner der et mindretall av pasientene trenger behandling i spesialisthelsetjenesten, vil primærlegen kunne bidra til å identifisere de tilfeller der behandling i spesialisthelsetjenesten er ønskelig for samfunnet. Om portvaktordningen faktisk medfører bedre bruk av samfunnets ressurser, vil da både avhenge av pasientenes egne kunnskaper, fastlegenes diagnostiske dyktighet, samt tida det tar å utføre portvaktfunksjonen. Vi beskriver teoretiske og empiriske studier som viser at avlønningsordningen for primærleger har betydning for hvor strengt portvaktrollen utøves. Et sentralt resultat fra litteraturen er at per capita avlønning medfører høyere henvisningsrate enn ytelsesbaserte takster og utvidet budsjettansvar. Et viktig spørsmål for framtidig forskning er om det finnes avlønningssystemer som oppmuntrer til en passe høy henvisningsrate vurdert ut fra kravet om god bruk av helsesektorens samlede ressurser.

• Godager, Geir; Hennig-Schmidt, Heike & Iversen, Tor (2016). Does performance disclosure influence physicians’ medical decisions? An experimental study. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. ISSN 0167-2681. 131, p. 36–46. doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2015.10.005.
• Godager, Geir; Iversen, Tor & Ma, Ching-To Albert (2015). Competition, gatekeeping, and health care access. Journal of Health Economics. ISSN 0167-6296. 39, p. 159–170. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2014.11.005.
• Godager, Geir & Iversen, Tor (2014). Sosial ulikhet i bruk av helsetjenester i Norge. In Botten, Grete Synøve; Frich, Jan C; Hagen, Terje P.; Iversen, Tor & Nordby, Halvor (Ed.), Helsetjenestens nye logikk. Akademika forlag. ISSN 978-82-321-0348-5. p. 231–245.
• Godager, Geir & Gregersen, Fredrik Alexander (2014). The association between age and mortality related hospital expenditures: Evidence from a complete national registry. Nordic Journal of Health Economics. ISSN 1892-9729.
• Godager, Geir & Wiesen, Daniel (2013). Profit or Patients' Health Benefit? Exploring the Heterogeneity in Physician Altruism. Journal of Health Economics. ISSN 0167-6296. 32(6), p. 1105–1116. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2013.08.008.
• Melberg, Hans Olav; Godager, Geir & Gregersen, Fredrik (2013). Sykehusutgifter mot livets slutt. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening. ISSN 0029-2001. 133(8), p. 841–844. doi: 10.4045/tidsskr.12.0802.
• Goth, Ursula-Georgine Småland & Godager, Geir (2012). Use of Primary Care Emergency Services in Norway: Impact of Birth Country and Duration of Residence. Nordic Journal of Health Economics. ISSN 1892-9729. 1(2). Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In Norway, the General Practitioner Scheme was established in 2001. Satisfaction with the system is generally high. However, people often choose to visit community-based emergency wards (EW) for routine care instead. The aim of this paper is to describe which factors influence the choice of seeking care at the EW. Design, setting, and patients: Prior national research on utilization patterns has been based mostly on surveys showing a low response rate. By using merged register data, we analyzed the choice of the EW as a care provider in Oslo (Norway) for 2006 and 2007. Applying 1,934,248 observations of 279,531 different individuals, we estimated the probability of choosing the emergency ward for the Norwegian-born population as well as for the14-largest immigrant groups. Substantial variation between groups was identified. Main outcome: The proportion of EW visits was highest among patients from Somalia (11.7 percent) while the lowest proportion of EW users was among immigrants from Germany and Vietnam (5.3 percent). The results vary substantially within individual migrant groups; gender, age, and the duration of residence each influence the probability of visiting an EW. Conclusions: We found large differences in the probability of using an EW between individuals from immigrant populations, presumably because of barriers in access to primary care. Continuity in the physician–patient relationship is an important policy goal. A suggestion for policy is thus to improve communication about the organization of the Norwegian health-care sector to newly arrived immigrants, as well as to patients at the EW.

• Godager, Geir; Lurås, Hilde & Iversen, Tor (2012). Framtidens betalingssystemer i allmennlegetjenesten. In Melberg, Hans Olav & Kjekshus, Lars Erik (Ed.), Fremtidens Helse-Norge. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245012088. p. 187–204.
• Godager, Geir (2012). Birds of a feather flock together: A study of doctor-patient matching. Journal of Health Economics. ISSN 0167-6296. 31(1), p. 296–305. doi: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2011.11.003.

View all works in Cristin

• Godager, Geir (2022). Bounded rationality models and their application to experimental data.
• Godager, Geir (2022). Bounded rationality models and their application to experimental data.
• Godager, Geir (2022). Bounded rationality models and their application to experimental data.
• Ge, Ge & Godager, Geir (2022). Imperfect quality competition in regulated health care markets. Show summary

  We study equilibrium quality in a health care market with regulated prices. Demand-side behavior is derived from choice axioms, and the demand-side responds imperfectly to differences in provider quality. The quality-responsiveness of the demand-side, medical technology and cost structure determines a unique payoff matrix for providers. Payoffs to providers are vectors with two elements: profit and patient benefit. For alternative degrees of quality-responsiveness, we derive the set of pure strategies that constitute feasible Pareto equilibria or Bayesian Nash equilibria in a duopoly market. The minimal quality that can be implemented as a Pareto equilibrium or Bayesian Nash equilibrium rises if the demand-side becomes more responsive to quality. Exploiting data from an incentivized laboratory experiment on strategic medical choices, we find that for 36 % of cases, decision-makers choose medical treatments that are dominated by other treatment strategies. We compute the quantal response equilibria for alternative levels of quality-responsiveness and show that equilibrium qualities are positively related to the quality-responsiveness of the demand-side. The consequences for the market equilibrium of a more quality responsive demand-side are qualitatively similar in a quantal response equilibrium and in a Bayesian Nash equilibrium. Our results illustrate how and why choice opportunities for patients cause quality incentives for providers, even in markets where the demand side has an imperfect quality response. An important policy implication is that policies that succeed in raising the quality-responsiveness of the demand-side will lead to a rise in equilibrium qualities provided to the market. Classic examples include lowering transaction costs and transportation costs.

• Godager, Geir (2021). Bounded rationality models and their application to experimental data.
• Godager, Geir (2021). Forhåndsregistrering av forskningsprotokoller i eksperimentell økonomi .
• Godager, Geir (2021). Preregistration of protocols for economic experiments.
• Godager, Geir (2021). Market equilibrium in general medical practice when demand functions are derived from choice axioms.
• Godager, Geir; Iversen, Tor & Snilsberg, Øyvind (2020). Norge er trolig alene om å innføre omvendt overtid for fastleger. Dagens medisin. ISSN 1501-4290.
• Godager, Geir (2019). Bounded rationality models.
• Ge, Ge & Godager, Geir (2019). A Quantal Response Equilibrium Choice Model.
• Godager, Geir (2019). Bounded rationality models. .
• Iversen, Tor; Hennig-Schmidt, Heike; Wang, Jian & Godager, Geir (2019). Are patient-regarding preferences stable? Evidence from a laboratory experiment with physicians and medical students from different countries.
• Gamst, Emilie & Godager, Geir (2019). Økonom: Feil å klandre bedrifter. Intervjuobjekt. [Newspaper]. Dagsavisen.
• Ge, Ge & Godager, Geir (2019). A Quantal Response Equilibrium Choice Model.
• Ge, Ge & Godager, Geir (2019). A Quantal Response Equilibrium Choice Model.
• Godager, Geir (2019). Organisering og betaling i fastlegetjenesten: Muligheter og begrensninger.
• Godager, Geir (2019). Vi anbefaler helse- ministeren å tenke seg godt om før han eventuelt gjentar påstanden om at systemet fungerer godt. [Newspaper]. Agderposten.
• Fosse, Synnøve Skeie & Godager, Geir (2019). Han mottok mer i refusjoner fra Folketrygden i 2018 enn noen andre legespesialister. [Newspaper]. Agderposten.
• Ge, Ge & Godager, Geir (2018). Markets and Rationality.
• Ge, Ge & Godager, Geir (2018). Markets and rationality.
• Ge, Ge & Godager, Geir (2018). Markets and rationality .
• Godager, Geir & Hanger, Mari Rian (2018). Betalingen til fastlegene er av betydning for ordningen. [Internet]. Dagens Medisin. Show summary

  Både nivået på fastlegers inntekt og innretningen på betalingen vil påvirke fastlegetjenesten, ifølge helseøkonom Geir Godager.

• Godager, Geir (2017). En av fire fastleger er over 60 år. [Newspaper]. Dagens medisin.
• Cheo, Roland; Ge, Ge; Godager, Geir; Wang, Jian; Wang, Qiqi & Liu, Rugang (2017). The effect of a mystery shopper program on prescriptions in primary care: Results from a field experiment.
• Byambadalai, Undral; Godager, Geir; Ma, Ching-To Albert & Wiesen, Daniel (2017). Competition and altruism.
• Ge, Ge; Godager, Geir; Wang, Jian & Wiesen, Daniel (2017). Pysicians' preferences under demand-side cost sharing.
• Godager, Geir; Ma, Ching-To Albert & Wiesen, Daniel (2016). Competition and Altruism.
• Godager, Geir; Cheo, Roland; Ge, Ge; Liu, Rugang; Wang, Qiqi & Wang, Jian (2016). The Effect of a Mystery Shopper Program on Prescription in Primary Care: Results from a Field Experiment in China.
• Ge, Ge; Cheo, Roland; Godager, Geir; Liu, Rugang; Wang, Qiqi & Wang, Jian (2016). Gender Differences in Antibiotic Prescriptions of Primary Health Providers in China.
• Godager, Geir (2016). Competition and preferences in health care markets: Behavioral effects of incentives and framing.
• Godager, Geir; Ma, Ching-To Albert & Wiesen, Daniel (2016). Competition and altruism: Experimental evidence.
• Ma, Ching-To Albert; Wiesen, Daniel & Godager, Geir (2016). Competition and Altruism.
• Wang, Jian; Godager, Geir; Hennig-Schmidt, Heike; Iversen, Tor & Jing, Lin (2015). The Impact of Payment Systems on Medical Students’ and Physicians’ Behavior – An Experimental Study in China.
• Li, Jing Jing; Godager, Geir & Wang, Jian (2015). Does physician gender influence the provision of medical care? An experimental study.
• Godager, Geir; Iversen, Tor & Hennig-Schmidt, Heike (2014). Does performance disclosure influence physicians’ medical decisions? An experimental analysis.
• Godager, Geir; Hennig-Schmidt, Heike; Wang, Jian & Lin, Jing (2014). Does Prospective Physicians’ Behavior Depend on the Payment System? Results from a Laboratory Experiment Applying a Within-Subject-Design.
• Aas, Eline; Gudrun Maria Waaler, Bjørnelv & Godager, Geir (2013). Can we identify the impact of social capital in empirical studies of disease severity and mortality? An exploratory study based on cancer data.
• Godager, Geir; Iversen, Tor & Ma, Ching-To Albert (2013). Gatekeeping and Access to Health Care.
• Godager, Geir; Iversen, Tor & Hennig-Schmidt, Heike (2013). Does performance disclosure influence physicians’ medical decisions? An experimental analysis.
• Godager, Geir; Hennig-Schmidt, Heike & Iversen, Tor (2013). Does performance disclosure influence physicians’ medical decisions? An experimental analysis.
• Godager, Geir; Hennig-Schmidt, Heike & Iversen, Tor (2013). Does performance disclosure influence physicians’ medical decisions?
• Godager, Geir (2013). Om betydningen av offentlig informasjon om behandlingsbeslutninger.
• Melberg, Hans Olav; Godager, Geir & Gregersen, Fredrik (2013). Sykehusutgifter mot slutten av livet. Dagens medisin. ISSN 1501-4290. 10.
• Gregersen, Fredrik & Godager, Geir (2012). Hospital Expenditures and the Red Herring Hypothesis: Evidence from a complete National Registry.
• Gregersen, Fredrik & Godager, Geir (2012). Hospital Expenditures and the Red Herring Hypothesis: Evidence from a complete National Registry.
• Ma, Ching-To Albert; Iversen, Tor & Godager, Geir (2012). Gatekeeping and Access to Health Care.
• Godager, Geir; Gregersen, Fredrik & Melberg, Hans Olav (2012). Helseutgifter mot slutten av livet: Hvor viktige er dødsfallsrelaterte utgifter ved beregningen av framtidens helseutgifter?
• Godager, Geir (2012). Forskjeller i henvisningsrater truer ikke målet om likeverdige helsetjenester. Tidsskrift for Den norske legeforening. ISSN 0029-2001. p. 277–278. doi: 10.4045/tidsskr.11.1477.
• Goth, Ursula-Georgine Småland & Godager, Geir (2011). Use of Primary Care Emergency Services in Norway: Impact of Birth Country and Duration of Residence.
• Iversen, Tor; Godager, Geir & Ma, Ching-To Albert (2011). Gatekeeping and access to health care.
• Godager, Geir; Westerveld, June & Dommerud, Tine (2011). Beboere på sykehjem møter sjelden en lege. [Newspaper]. Aftenposten.
• Iversen, Tor; Ma, Ching-To Albert & Godager, Geir (2011). Gatekeeping and Access to Health Care.
• Gregersen, Fredrik & Godager, Geir (2011). Consumption of hospital services in Norway.
• Godager, Geir & Madshus, Karin Grønn (2011). Flesberg best på eldreomsorg. [Newspaper]. Laagendalsposten.
• Godager, Geir & Goth, Ursula-Georgine Småland (2011). Use of Primary Care Emergency Services in Norway: Impact of Birth Country and Duration of Residence.
• Godager, Geir & Wiesen, Daniel (2011). Profit or Patients' Health Benefit? Exploring the Heterogeneity in Physician Altruism.
• Godager, Geir & Harnes, Nils (2011). Kvinner topper som fastleger. [Newspaper]. Budstikka.
• Wiesen, Daniel & Godager, Geir (2010). Profit or patients' health benefit?
• Aars, Ole Kristian; Godager, Geir; Kaarbøe, Oddvar Martin & Moger, Tron Anders (2022). Sending emails to reduce medical costs? The effect of feedback on general practitioners’ claiming of fees. Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 1501-9071. 2022(1). Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Audit and feedback is used as a strategy to guide practices of health care professionals towards certain targets. The outcome of interest can be quality improvements, but also ensuring that health care workers adhere to relevant regulations. We conducted a nationwide field experiment in the Norwegian primary care sector to study the behavioral responses from giving general practitioners feedback (GPs) on their claiming of fees. The email-based feedback intervention targeted GPs who most frequently claimed fees for double consultations and provided them with a reminder of the formal regulations for double consultations. The intervention caused a 2-5 percentage point reduction in the use of the double-consultation fee, reducing the yearly health care spending of the Norwegian government by approximately €877 000 (or €1 270 per GP).

• Pedersen, Kine; Pedersen, Kine; Godager, Geir; Rognlien, Hans David; Tyrihjell, Johannes Bjørnstad & Værnø, Susanne Gerda [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2022). Evaluering av handlingsplan for allmennlegetjenesten 2020–2024: Evalueringsrapport I. Oslo Economics. Full text in Research Archive
• Abelsen, Birgit; Gaski, Margrete; Godager, Geir; Iversen, Tor; Løyland, Hanna Isabell & Pedersen, Kine [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2021). Evaluering av pilotprosjekt med primærhelseteam og alternative finansieringsordninger: Statusrapport III. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive
• Ge, Ge & Godager, Geir (2021). Essays in experimental health economics. University of Oslo. Full text in Research Archive
• Godager, Geir; Hennig-Schmidt, Heike; Jing Jing, Li; Wang, Jian & Yang, Fan (2021). Does gender affect medical decisions? Results from a behavioral experiment with physicians and medical students . Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 1501-9071. 2021(1). Full text in Research Archive
• Abelsen, Birgit; Gaski, Margrete; Godager, Geir; Løyland, Hanna Isabel; Pedersen, Kine & Snilsberg, Øyvind [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2019). Evaluering av pilotprosjekt med primærhelseteam og alternative finansieringsordninger. Statusrapport II. Helsedirektoratet.
• Abelsen, Birgit; Gaski, Margrete; Godager, Geir; Iversen, Tor; Løyland, Hanna Isabel & Pedersen, Kine [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2019). Evaluering av pilotprosjekt med primærhelseteam og alternative finansieringsordninger. Statusrapport 2 . Universitetet i Oslo.
• Wang, Jian; Iversen, Tor; Hennig-Schmidt, Heike & Godager, Geir (2019). Are patient-regarding preferences stable? Evidence from a laboratory experiment with physicians and medical students from different countries . Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 978-82-7756-265-0. 2019(1).
• Ge, Ge; Godager, Geir & Wang, Jian (2019). Do physicians care about patients’ utility? Evidence from an experimental study of treatment choices under demand-side cost sharing. Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 978-82-7756-266-7. 2019(2).
• Cheo, Roland; Ge, Ge; Godager, Geir; Liu, Rugang; Wang, Qiqi & Wang, Jian (2018). The effect of a mystery shopper scheme on prescriptions in primary care. universitetet i oslo. ISSN 978‐82‐7756‐262‐9. 2018(1).
• Wang, Jian; Hennig-Schmidt, Heike; Iversen, Tor & Godager, Geir (2017). How Changes in Payment Schemes Influence Provision Behavior-Evidence from a lab experiment with physicians and medical students. universitetet i oslo. ISSN 9788277562612. 2017(2).
• Godager, Geir & Iversen, Tor (2016). Brukernes erfaringer med fastlegeordningen 2001- 2015. Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 978-82-7756-258-2. 2016(10).
• Li, Jing Jing; Godager, Geir & Wang, Jian (2016). Does physician gender influence the provision of medical care? An experimental study. Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 9788277562551. 2016(6).
• Godager, Geir; Iversen, Tor; Morken, Tone & Hunskaar, Steinar (2015). Fastlønn ved legevaktarbeid. Nasjonalt kompetansesenter for legevaktmedisin, Uni Research Helse. ISSN 9788292970911.
• Galizzi, Matteo; Tammi, Timo; Godager, Geir; Linnosmä, Ismo & Wiesen, Daniel (2015). Provider altruism in health economics. Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos. ISSN 978-952-302-429-8.
• Godager, Geir; Hennig-Schmidt, Heike & Iversen, Tor (2014). Does performance disclosure influence physicians’ medical decisions? An experimental study. Helseøkonomisk forskningsnettverk ved Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 978-82-7756-243-8. 2014(4).
• Godager, Geir & Iversen, Tor (2014). Brukernes erfaringer med fastlegeordningen 2001 – 2012. Trender i bruk, tilgjengelighet og fornøydhet. HERO. ISSN 978-82-7756-241-4. 2014(2).
• Gregersen, Fredrik & Godager, Geir (2013). Hospital expenditures and the red herring hypothesis: Evidence from a complete national registry. Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 978-82-7756-233-9. 2013(3). Show summary

  The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate on population aging and growth in health expenditures. The Red Herring hypothesis, i.e., that hospital expenditures are driven by the occurrence of mortal illnesses, and not patients’ age, forms the basis of the study. The data applied in the analysis are from a complete registry of in-patient hospital expenditures in Norway from the years 1998-2009. Since data registration is compulsory and all hospital admissions are recorded, there is no self-selection into the data. Mortality related hospital expenditures were identified by creating gender-cohort specific panels for each of the 430 Norwegian municipalities. We separated the impact of mortality on current hospital expenditures from the impact of patients’ age and gender. This approach contributes to the literature by applying sensible aggregation methods on a complete registry of inpatient hospital admissions. We apply model estimates to quantify the mortality related hospital expenditures for twenty age groups. The results show that mortality related hospital expenditures are a decreasing function of age. Further the results clearly support that, both age and mortalities should be included when predicting future health care expenditure. The estimation results suggest that 9.2 % of all hospital expenditure is associated with treating individuals in their last year of life.

• Godager, Geir; Hennig-Schmidt, Heike & Iversen, Tor (2013). Does performance disclosure influence physicians’ medical decisions? An experimental analysis. Helseøkonomisk forskningsnettverk ved Universitetet i Oslo, HERO. ISSN 978-82-7756-231-5. 2013(1). Show summary

  Pay-for-performance schemes targeting quality improvements and cost reductions in markets for medical care have become increasingly popular among health policy-makers during the last decade. Typically, such schemes attach financial incentives to a set of indicators which consist of some processed information that is believed to constitute an adequate description of the provider. Due to the asymmetric information inherent in medical markets, changes in the information structure are likely to cause substantial change to the environment in which health care providers operate. Since monitoring of physician treatment decisions is a necessary prerequisite in a pay-for performance scheme, and also an important factor influencing the information structure in the market, disentangling the effect of a change in the information regime from a change in financial incentives is difficult. By means of a laboratory experiment we are able to identify the ceteris-paribus effect of a change in information regime. We find that introducing transparency, and making medical students’ treatment decisions known to their peers, have a positive impact on patients’ health benefit. The results also suggest that disclosure of physician performance increase social welfare.

• Godager, Geir; Iversen, Tor & Ma, Ching-To Albert (2012). Competition, Gatekeeping, and Health Care Access. HERO. ISSN 978-82-7756-230-8.
• Selbæk, Geir; Vossius, Corinna Elisabeth; Lurås, Hilde & Godager, Geir (2012). Resource Use and Disease Course in Dementia (REDIC). Avdeling for helseledelse og helseøkonomi, Universitetet i Oslo. 2012(1).
• Godager, Geir & Wiesen, Daniel (2011). Profit or Patients' Health Benefit? Exploring the Heterogeneity in Physician Altruism. HERO. ISSN 978-82-7756-227-8. 2011(7).
• Iversen, Tor; Hagen, Terje P. & Godager, Geir (2011). Omfang og sammensetning av omsorgstjenester i tre nordiske land. HERO. ISSN 978-82-7756-222-3. 2011(2). Show summary

  Sammendrag Formålet med denne rapporten er å beskrive de nordiske lands tjenesteprofiler innenfor de kommunale omsorgstjenestene. Med tjenesteprofil menes blant annet antall brukere og type brukergrupper, tjenestens organisering og tjenestens driftskostnader, samt fordelingen mellom hjemmebasert versus institusjonsbasert omsorg. Datagrunnlag og definisjoner varierer mellom de nordiske landene. Dette gjør det vanskelig å sammenlikne nivået på tjenestetilbudet. Dette gjelder særlig for Finland der det ikke er mulig å skille pleie og omsorgstjenestene fra deler av spesialisthelsetjenestene. Finland inngår derfor ikke i den tallmessige beskrivelsen. Når det gjelder hjemmetjenester, er det bare for praktisk bistand at data er sammenlignbare for de tre landene Danmark, Norge og Sverige. Andelen mottakere av praktisk bistand i Danmark og Norge er omtrent på samme nivå, mens tilsvarende andel i Sverige er mindre. Noe av forskjellen kan skyldes at svenske tall bare omfatter hjemmetjenester til hjemmeboende og ikke for eksempel i omsorgsboliger som i Norge. Når hjemmetjenester inkluderer både praktisk bistand og hjemmesykepleie, er gjennomsnittlig andel mottakere noe større i Danmark enn i Norge. Andelen av befolkningen som bor i institusjon eller tilrettelagte boformer er redusert noe i alle tre land etter 2001. Reduksjonen synes å ha vært størst i Sverige og minst i Norge. For den eldste aldersgruppen (80 år og over) har Norge den største andelen av befolkningen i institusjon eller tilrettelagte boformer, mens andel beboere i aldersgruppen 67-79 år er større i Danmark enn i Norge. En oppsplitting i institusjon og tilrettelagt boform er bare mulig i Danmark og Norge. Andelen på institusjon i den eldste aldersgruppen er noe større i Norge enn i Danmark. Mens andelen har blitt redusert i Danmark siden 2006, har den vært konstant i Norge. Norge viser gjennomgående en større kommunal variasjon i omfang og sammensetning av omsorgstjenester enn Sverige og Danmark. Analysene av de skandinaviske landene samlet viser at kommunenes inntektsnivå har en positiv effekt på andel innbyggere i institusjoner og omsorgsboliger, dvs. at andelen beboere i disse boformene øker med kommunenes inntekter. Vi finner ikke tilsvarende effekter av inntekter på andel innbyggere som mottar praktisk bistand. At inntekter har ulike effekter på de to formene for omsorg, kan skyldes ulikhet i kostnader mellom omsorgsformene. Det kan også være at større inntekter vil medføre at antallet timer med praktisk bistand til de som allerede er mottakerne, vil øke. Tilgjengelige data har ikke gitt mulighet til å undersøke dette nærmere. Vi finner videre en positiv effekt av andel av befolkningen i aldergruppen 67 og over for begge de to omsorgsformene. Dødelighet har en positiv effekt på institusjonsdekning og en negativ effekt på andel innbyggere som mottar praktisk bistand. Vi tolker dette som at det i kommuner som har mange innbyggere i livets siste fase, skjer en dreining av omsorgstilbudet over fra lettere til tyngre omsorgsformer. Tidligere analyser har vist at Danmark har lagt stor vekt på utvikling av hjemmetjenester som kom til erstatning for institusjonstjenestene. Utviklingen i Sverige har derimot vært preget av reduksjon både i hjemmetjenester og institusjonsplasser/omsorgsboliger. Norge har vært et sted i mellom de to andre landene. I dag kan vi konkludere med at Danmark fortsatt har noe større dekning når det gjelder mottakere av hjemmehjelp/hjemmesykepleie, mens Sverige har lavere dekning enn Norge. Norge ligger svakt over Danmark i dekningsgrader for institusjoner/omsorgsboliger. Også her ligger Sverige lavere. De lange linjer viser med andre ord at Norge fortsatt har lavere nivå enn Danmark på hjemmetjenester. De viser også at avinstitusjonaliseringen fortsetter i våre to naboland, mens institusjonsdekningen i Norge trolig er nokså stabil og høyere enn i de to andre landene.

• Hagen, Terje P.; Amayu, Kebebew Negera; Godager, Geir; Iversen, Tor & Øien, Henning (2011). Utviklingen i kommunenes helse- og omsorgstjenester 1986-2010. HERO. ISSN 978-82-7756-225-4. 2011(5).
• Chen, Xing & Godager, Geir (2011). Development of competition indicators in the Norwegian general practice: Constructing a postal code-specific Herfindahl-Hirschman index applying STATA software. Helseøkonomisk forskningsprogram ved Universitetet i Oslo, . ISSN 978-82-7756-221-6. 2011(1).

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