Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/161358 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 10735
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Although physicians are often expected to be gatekeepers to health insurance benefits such as paid sick leave, research indicates a substantial reluctance to reject patient requests for sickness certificates. We show that private information on the patient's part creates a conflict between the healer and gatekeeper roles: if a patient reports subjective symptoms indicating a need for sick leave, the physician is unable to tell if the patient is truly sick or a shirker. We show that even if most physicians prefer to be good gatekeepers, all of them may trust their patients in Nash equilibrium. These ideas are illustrated using results from focus group interviews with Norwegian primary care physicians.
Subjects: 
sicklisting
subjective diagnoses
asymmetric information
focus group interviews
JEL: 
D11
D21
H42
I11
I18
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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