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Hours worked by general practitioners and waiting times for primary care
Author(s) -
Swami Megha,
Gravelle Hugh,
Scott Anthony,
Williams Jenny
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.3782
Subject(s) - primary care , global positioning system , margin (machine learning) , working hours , medicine , primary health care , health care , family medicine , labour economics , economics , economic growth , computer science , telecommunications , machine learning
The decline in the working hours of general practitioners (GPs) is a key factor influencing access to health care in many countries. We investigate the effect of changes in hours worked by GPs on waiting times in primary care using the Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life longitudinal survey of Australian doctors. We estimate GP fixed effects models for waiting time and use family circumstances to instrument for GP's hours worked. We find that a 10% reduction in hours worked increases average patient waiting time by 12%. Our findings highlight the importance of GPs' labor supply at the intensive margin in determining the length of time patients must wait to see their doctor.