Working Paper: NBER ID: w19496
Authors: Sergei Koulayev; Niels Skipper; Emilia Simeonova
Abstract: Non-compliance with medication therapy remains an unsolved and expensive problem for health care systems around the world. Yet we know little about the factors that determine a patient's decision to follow treatment recommendations. This study uses a unique panel dataset comprising all prescription drug users, physicians, and all prescription drug sales in Denmark over seven years to analyze the contributions of doctor-, patient-, and drug-specific factors to the adherence decision. Our findings have important implications for the design of incentive schemes targeted at improving chronic disease management.
Keywords: patient adherence; medication therapy; healthcare costs; incentive schemes
JEL Codes: I11; I12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| physician characteristics (I11) | patient adherence to medication therapy (I18) |
| patient characteristics (I11) | patient adherence to medication therapy (I18) |
| medication costs (I18) | patient adherence to medication therapy (I18) |
| quality of doctor-patient match (I11) | patient adherence to medication therapy (I18) |
| doctor-patient relationship dynamics (I11) | patient adherence to medication therapy (I18) |