Description:

Speaker: Radhika Ramakrishnan

Title: "The Second Specialist:  How Does Vertical Integration Affect Specialist Switching" (joint with Xingyue Xin)

Abstract: “Vertical integration is particularly pervasive in healthcare markets.  In this work, we study vertical integration between generalist (primary care) and specialist physicians and establish a relationship between the vertical integration status of a primary care provider and the likelihood that patients switch specialist providers.  The ease with which a patient can switch specialist providers may be related to the health outcomes they experience in the future.  We propose ways to examine this as well as ways to examine underlying mechanisms for our results on vertical integration and switching.”