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That reminds me of this 2020 study of dentists in Switzerland, previously discussed on HN in January 2023: HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34322194 ht
by nosianu 2y ago
That reminds me of this 2020 study of dentists in Switzerland, previously discussed on HN in January 2023:
HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34322194 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34322194
Study: "Health Services as Credence Goods: a Field Experiment" -- https://academic.oup.com/ej/article-abstract/130/629/1346/5766223?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false https://academic.oup.com/ej/article-abstract/130/629/1346/57... (full study available on SciHub)
[Note: Credence goods are goods whose qualities cannot be ascertained by consumers even after purchase, or where an expert knows more about the quality a consumer needs than the consumer himself.]
> We present the results from a field experiment in the market for dental care: a test patient who does not need treatment is sent to 180 dentists to receive treatment recommendations.
> In the experiment, we vary the socio-economic status of the patient and whether a second opinion signal is sent. Furthermore, measures of market, practice and dentist characteristics are collected.
> We observe an overtreatment recommendation rate of 28% and a striking heterogeneity in treatment recommendations.
> Furthermore, we find significantly fewer overtreatment recommendations for patients with higher socio-economic status compared with lower socio-economic status for standard visits, suggesting a complex role for patients’ socio-economic status.
> Competition intensity, measured by dentist density, does not have a significant influence on overtreatment. Dentists with shorter waiting times are more likely to propose unnecessary treatment.
- mmooss 2y ago> we find significantly fewer overtreatment recommendations for patients with higher socio-economic status compared with lower socio-economic status for standard visits Very interesting: You'd think they'd go for the deeper pockets, but something overrides that.
- sirspacey 2y agoThis risk of being found out Higher socio-economic status = smaller local community
- bombarolo 2y ago… better lawyers
- slowmovintarget 2y ago...and better education, including the same social circles as, possibly, said dentists.
- bsder 2y agoA lot of it is an assumption that patient at some point won't follow up for some reason (generally money). So, the dentist is more likely to prioritize completeable treatment over wait and see. Due to my mouth and jaw shape, I put a lot of pressure on two of my lower teeth. They have abfractions and they are going to crack at some point. Being north of middle aged, none of my options to change things are great (normally you'd crack the jaw and move the teeth around--kinda not great at my age). However, I show up regularly for cleaning so she is willing to observe and monitor. I suspect that if I weren't a reliable, recurring patient, she'd probably press me to do something about them.
- mariushn 2y agoWouldn't braces solve this, by moving all teeth towards the back in 1-2 years?
- charlie0 2y agoThe lower economic classes are often less educated and may have government issued insurance, so they much more likely to just take the treatment recommendations.