Die Struktur der Notfallversorgung in Deutschland muss grundlegend verbessert werden, darüber besteht weitgehend Einigkeit. Seit spätestens 2018 und dem Gutachten des SVR Gesundheit wird intensiv ein in den Grundzügen unveränderter Reformvorschlag diskutiert. Über das Stadium eines...

The German universal long-term care (LTC) insurance program offers beneficiaries the choice between in-kind services and a cash benefit, which can be used for anything, including informal care. The optimal level of the cash benefit de- pends on substitution between formal and informal care...

European COvid Survey (ECOS), a longitudinal study spanning eight European countries, was initiated early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Its purpose was to comprehend public perceptions, trust, knowledge, and behaviors related to COVID-19, including vaccination. The study aimed to enable timely...

We investigate heterogeneity in patterns of preferences for health insurance features using health insurance choice data from a controlled laboratory experiment. Within the experiment, participants make consecutive insurance choices based on choice sets that vary in composition and size. We keep...

Hospitals account for 40 % of all healthcare expenditures and play a central role in healthcare provision. Therefore, the way hospitals are payed has major implications for the care they provide. Yet the knowledge about system wide effects of payment reforms is surprisingly thin. This study...

We study how competition between physicians affects the provision of medical care. In our theoretical model physicians are faced with a heterogeneous patient population, in which patients systematically vary with regard to both, their responsiveness to the provided quality of care and their...

Background: Across the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, policy makers are searching for new ways to pay hospitals for inpatient care. At present, the dominant payment system for inpatient services is activity-based funding based on diagnosis-...

Background: Statutory health insurers in Germany offer a variety of disease management, prevention and health promotion programs to their insurees. Identifying patients with a high probability of leaving these programs prematurely helps insurers to offer better support to those at the highest...

This paper analyzes the referral processes between a gatekeeping primary-care physician (PCP) and a specialist. Specialists provide superior treatment for some patients but are more costly than PCPs. Agency problems arise because diagnostic signals are private information of the physicians....

The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes one of the largest threats in recent decades to the health and economic welfare of populations globally. In this paper, we analyze different types of policy measures designed to fight the spread of the virus and minimize economic losses. Our analysis builds on a...