A Consumer Perspective on Flexibility in Health Care: Priority Access Pricing and Customized Care
In his dissertation entitled A Consumer Perspective on Flexibility in Health Care: Priority Access Pricing and Customized Care, Tim Benning investigates how consumers evaluate two new flexible health care policies that could be relevant for implementation in the future. His research resulted in several important findings:
First, Benning finds that a price-based priority access allocation policy in which treatment takes place within the regular working hours of the hospital has a negative effect on total and distributional collective health outcome evaluations, and is negatively evaluated by the general public. But, in case of a price-based allocation policy in which treatment takes place outside the regular working hours of the hospital these effects turn out to be positive for total collective health outcome evaluations and negative for distributional collective health outcome evaluations.
Second, Benning demonstrates that distributional collective health outcome evaluations (compared to total collective health outcome evaluations) have a relatively lower impact on consumers’ attitude towards an allocation policy for health care treatments that have life improving consequences than for treatments with life saving consequences.
Third, Benning shows that collective outcomes are perceived as more abstract than individual outcomes, and that - within the collective outcomes - equity collective outcomes are perceived as more abstract than efficiency collective outcomes. Given these results, Bennings finds that policies are evaluated more positively when the social distance of the focal outcome in an allocation policy is congruent with the psychological distance inherent in the decision context.
Finally, the research indicates that, in the case of follow-up care after breast cancer, offering patients fully customized programs is cost-effective and also preferred by patients. These findings can be used to provide assistance in future health care decision making.
Tim Benning defended his dissertation on June 30 2011 at Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University. His promotor was Prof.dr.ir. B.G.C. Dellaert. Other members of the Doctoral Committee were Prof.dr. J.L. Severens, Prof.dr. D. Smeesters, and Dr. A.C. D. Donkers.
About Tim Benning
Tim Benning was born in Dordrecht on 1 July, 1983. He obtained his VWO diploma from Develsteincollege in 2001. From 2001 to 2006 he studied Economics and Business at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. He obtained his Master's degree in 2006. In January 2007 he started as a PhD-student at the department of marketing at the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) and Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. During his PhD-track he presented his research at several international conferences (Paris and Cologne). After his PhD, he started as a post-doctoral researcher at the institute of Health care Policy and Management (iBMG) of the Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Abstract of A Consumer Perspective on Flexibility in Health Care: Priority Access Pricing and Customized Care
The rise of consumerism and the increasing availability of information through the Internet have increased patients’ demand for care that is more in line with their preferences. Because of this trend the expectation that hospitals act according to each individual patient’s preferences is becoming even more prominent. Hospitals could respond by implementing flexible health care policies that offer patients more choice.
In his dissertation, Tim Benning explores two types of flexible health care policies from the consumer perspective: priority access pricing and customized care. He does this by (1) investigating how consumers evaluate price-based priority access allocation policies (i.e., allocation policies in which patients are offered the option to pay extra for faster health care access), and by (2) demonstrating how the collective costs and benefits of customized health care policies (i.e., policies that offer individuals the possibility to “create” their own health care program) can be used to evaluate customized care. Throughout, special attention is given to the role of collective health outcomes.
Besides its scientific conclusions, the findings in this dissertation are also relevant for hospitals and policy makers that consider implementing new allocation policies. They can be used to provide assistance in future health care decision making.
