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Optimal Contracting with Altruistic Agents: Medicare Payments for Dialysis Drugs

Resource type
Authors/contributors
Title
Optimal Contracting with Altruistic Agents: Medicare Payments for Dialysis Drugs
Abstract
We study health-care provider agency and optimal payments, considering an expensive medication for dialysis patients. Using Medicare claims data we estimate a structural model of treatment decisions, in which providers differ in their altruism and marginal costs, and this heterogeneity is unobservable to the government. In a novel application of nonlinear pricing methods, we empirically characterize the optimal contracts in this environment. The optimal contracts eliminate medically excessive dosages and reduce expenditures, resulting in approximately $300 million in annual gains from better contracting. This approach could be applied to a broad class of problems in healthcare payment policy.
Publication
American Economic Review
Volume
113
Issue
6
Pages
1530-71
Date
2023-06
Citation
Gaynor, M., Mehta, N., & Richards-Shubik, S. (2023). Optimal Contracting with Altruistic Agents: Medicare Payments for Dialysis Drugs. American Economic Review, 113, 1530–1571.
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