Journal of Economic Literature
ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)
Doctor Decision-Making and Patient Outcomes
Journal of Economic Literature
(pp. 141–94)
Abstract
Doctors often treat similar patients differently, which affects health outcomes and medical spending. We assess the recent literature on doctor decision-making through the lens of a model that incorporates diagnostic and procedural skills, beliefs, incentives, and differences in patient pools. Decision-making is affected by beliefs, training, experience, peer effects, financial incentives, and time constraints. Interventions to improve decision-making include providing information, guidelines, and technologies like electronic medical records and algorithmic decision tools. Economists have made progress in understanding doctor decision-making, but applications of that knowledge to improving health care are still limited.Citation
Currie, Janet, W. Bentley MacLeod, and Kate Musen. 2026. "Doctor Decision-Making and Patient Outcomes." Journal of Economic Literature 64 (1): 141–94. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20251762Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- D91 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
- G51 Household Finance: Household Saving, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
- I11 Analysis of Health Care Markets
- I14 Health and Inequality
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J44 Professional Labor Markets; Occupational Licensing