The diversity of concentrated prescribing behavior
Subtitle: an application to antipsychotics
By: Anna A. Levine Taub, Anton Kolotilin, Robert S. Gibbons, Ernst R. Berndt
Contributors: National Bureau of Economic Research
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 16823; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 16823.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "The NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health provides summaries of publications like this.  You can sign up to receive the NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health by email.  Physicians prescribing drugs for patients with schizophrenia and related conditions are remarkably concentrated in their choice among antipsychotic drugs.  In 2007 the single antipsychotic drug prescribed by a physician accounted for 66% of all antipsychotic prescriptions written by that physician.  Which particular branded antipsychotic was the prescriber's "favorite" varied widely across physicians, i.e.  physician prescribing concentration patterns are diverse.  Building on Frank and Zeckhauser's [2007] characterization of physician treatments varying from "custom made" to "ready-to-wear", we construct a model of physician learning that generates a number of hypotheses.  Using 2007 annual antipsychotic prescribing behavior on 17,652 physicians from IMS Health, we evaluate these predictions empirically.  While physician prescribing behavior is generally quite concentrated, prescribers having greater volumes, those with training in psychiatry, male prescribers, and those not approaching retirement age tend to have less concentrated prescribing patterns"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 5/19/2011.

Includes bibliographical references.

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