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  5. Defying Distance? The Provision of Medical Services in the Digital Age

American Economic Review

ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)

Defying Distance? The Provision of Medical Services in the Digital Age

  • Amanda Dahlstrand
American Economic Review (Forthcoming)

Abstract

Digital platforms reduce geographic frictions, enabling better matching between service providers and users. I quantify reallocation gains in Swedish online healthcare, using nationwide time-conditional random assignment between patients and physicians. Matching high-risk patients with doctors effective at reducing Emergency Room visits lowers such visits by 4.4% (s.e. 1.3); reallocations also reduce counter-guideline antibiotics by 3.1% (1.4). I find limited trade-offs in matching: horizontal differentiation among doctors and varied patient needs allow improvement in multiple outcomes simultaneously. Efficiency-enhancing reallocations also affect equity. The findings highlight the potential for care reorganization aligning provider heterogeneity with patient needs when geographic constraints are lifted.

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