Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/315275 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Citation: 
[Journal:] International Journal of Health Economics and Management [ISSN:] 2199-9031 [Volume:] 24 [Issue:] 3 [Publisher:] Springer US [Place:] New York [Year:] 2024 [Pages:] 357-373
Publisher: 
Springer US, New York
Abstract: 
Abstract Patient empowerment calls for an intensified participation of (informed) patients with more treatment opportunities to choose from. A growing body of literature argues that confronting consumers with too many opportunities can lead to a choice overload (CO) resulting in uncertainty that the selected alternative dominates all other options in the choice set. We examine whether there is a CO effect in the demand for ambulatory health care in Germany by analyzing the association of medical specialists supply on so-called patients’ health uncertainty. Further, we investigate if the CO effect is smaller in areas with a higher density of general practitioners (GPs). We find that patients who live in an area with a large supply of specialists are subject to a CO effect that is expressed by an increased health uncertainty. The coordinating role of GPs seems to be effective to reduce the CO effect, while preserving free consumer choice.
Subjects: 
Choice overload
Patient choice
Health care coordination
Spatial distribution of health services
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Additional Information: 
C21;C23;D12;D83;I12;I18
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version
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