Payment schemes and treatment responses after a demand shock in mental health care.

ABSTRACT: We study whether two groups of mental health care providers-each paid according to a different payment scheme-adjusted the duration of their patients' treatments after they faced an exogenous 20% drop in the number of patients. For the first group of providers, self-employed providers, we find that they did not increase treatment duration to recoup their income loss. Treatment duration thresholds in the stepwise fee-for-service payment function seem to have prevented these providers to treat patients longer. For the second group of providers, large mental health care institutions who were subject to a budget constraint, we find an average increase in treatment duration of 8%. Prior rationing combined with professional uncertainty can explain this increase. We find suggestive evidence for o

SUBMITTER: Douven R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9291998 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature