Hellerstein J K
University of Maryland, USA.
Rand J Econ. 1998 Spring;29(1):108-36.
I examine the importance of physicians in the process by which patients receive either trade-name or generic drugs. Using a dataset on physicians, their patients, and the multisource drugs prescribed, I find that almost all physicians prescribe both types of drugs to their patients, but some physicians are more likely to prescribe generic drugs while other physicians are more likely to prescribe trade-name drugs. Very little of the prescription decision can be explained by observable characteristics of individual patients, but all of the evidence indicates that physicians are indeed an important agent in determining whether patients receive either trade-name or generic drugs.
我研究了医生在患者获取品牌药或非专利药过程中的重要性。通过使用一个关于医生、他们的患者以及所开多种来源药物的数据集，我发现几乎所有医生都会给患者开这两种类型的药物，但有些医生更倾向于开非专利药，而其他医生则更倾向于开品牌药。个体患者的可观察特征几乎无法解释处方决策，但所有证据都表明，医生确实是决定患者获取品牌药还是非专利药的重要因素。
