engleski

The agency problem in healthcare and the importance of incentives

The agency problem in healthcare is caused by information asymmetry between the principal and the agent and is different than the agency problem in other economic fields due to the specificities of healthcare systems. Although other principal-agent relationships are present in healthcare, the most common one is the one between the patient - principal, and his physician - agent. Bearing in mind that there is a certain conflict of interests between the patient and the physician, the ultimate goal is to create an incentive compatible contract which will maximize utility of both the principal and the agent. A well designed payment system in healthcare has a great importance in influencing physicians’ behavior and when determining the payment system which will contribute the most to the motivation of the physician to maximize the patient’s utility, the guiding principles should be optimal use of resources and effective resource allocation to ensure an efficient healthcare system.

Information asymmetry ; Incentive compatible contract ; Health care efficiency ; Resource allocation ; Healthcare payment systems

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