Currie Janet, Zhang Jonathan
Princeton Center for Health and Wellbeing.
McMaster University, Department of Economics and Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, US Department of Veterans Affairs.
Rev Econ Stat. 2025 Mar;107(2):289-305. doi: 10.1162/rest_a_01290. Epub 2025 Mar 12.
We use data from the Veterans Administration to examine the efficacy of primary care providers (PCPs). Leveraging quasi-random assignment of veterans to PCPs, we measure effectiveness using ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC) and hospitalizations/emergency department (ED) visits for mental health or circulatory conditions. PCPs variation along these dimensions predicts future outcomes. For example, a one standard deviation improvement in mental health effectiveness reduces patient risk of death by 3.8% and lowers costs by 4.4% over the next three years. More effective PCPs do more with less: their patients have fewer primary care visits, specialist referrals, lab panels, or imaging tests.
我们使用退伍军人管理局的数据来检验初级保健提供者（PCP）的疗效。利用退伍军人到初级保健提供者处的准随机分配，我们使用门诊护理敏感病症（ACSC）以及心理健康或循环系统疾病的住院/急诊就诊情况来衡量效果。初级保健提供者在这些维度上的差异预示着未来的结果。例如，心理健康效果提高一个标准差，在接下来的三年里可将患者死亡风险降低3.8%，并降低成本4.4%。更有效的初级保健提供者能用更少的资源做更多的事：他们的患者进行的初级保健就诊、专科转诊、实验室检查或影像检查更少。
