Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/339382 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
CINCH series No. 2026/01
Publisher: 
University of Duisburg-Essen, CINCH - Health Economics Research Center, Essen
Abstract: 
Despite universal healthcare coverage and clinical guidelines recommending psychotherapy after psychiatric hospitalization, only 26% of German patients receive it, and paradoxically, the sickest patients are least likely to get treatment. Using administrative claims data, we investigate whether increasing psychotherapy supply addresses this misallocation. For identification, we exploit quasi-random variation from Germany's therapist license allocation system. A one standard deviation higher supply raises therapy uptake by 10%, modestly reduces waiting times, and lowers patient search frictions, but does not alter the composition of therapy recipients. These findings challenge the assumption that healthcare capacity constraints affect all patients equally.
Subjects: 
Mental health
Healthcare markets
Waiting time
JEL: 
I11
I18
H51
R53
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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