Decision-Making and Choices in Healthcare. Empirical Essays on the Economics of Healthcare Performance

Decision-makers in the healthcare market, be they a healthcare consumer, provider, insurer or regulator, constantly interact and exchange information with each other. However, one party often holds a greater knowledge than the other. Hospitals expect that physicians will choose the most efficient treatment, whereas patients have to rely on medical decisions made by their physician. To equalise the information in the healthcare industry has long been seen as a way to improve market efficiency and performance. The aim of this collection of empirical studies is to study the decision-making behaviour of each agent and its consequences in the healthcare market.