Physicians Treating Physicians: The Relational and Informational Advantages in Treatment and Survival

Using cancer registry and doctor certificate records, we address unobserved physician quality issues by matching comparable patients with advanced cancer by doctor, hospital, and admission period. Estimates show that physician-patients are less likely to use surgery or radiation, more likely to use targeted drug therapy, spend less on checkups, and enjoy higher long-term survival while paying less on coinsurance than nonphysician-patients. Restricting data to less informed physician-patients, we find that those with stronger professional ties receive less surgical/radiation therapy and have higher survival, though only for 0.5 years. We show that relational and informational advantages appear in healthcare agency problems.