Two-part pricing and the mark-ups charged by primary care physicians for new and established patient visits.
Patients learn something when they visit a physician for the first time. Primary care physicians may exploit this information by using a two-part pricing strategy to price discriminate between new and established patients. The price of established patient visits will exceed marginal cost; because physicians maximize their profits from the entire relationship with a patient, competition drives new patient prices below marginal cost. Empirical tests indicate that general and family practitioners and obstetricians and gynecologists charge higher mark-ups on established patient visits than on new patient visits. Internists charge similar mark-ups on both types of visit.
D002755:Choice Behavior; D004465:Economic Competition; D005194:Family Practice / Q000191:economics; D005251:Fees, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006176:Gynecology / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000191:economics; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009774:Obstetrics / Q000191:economics; D009819:Office Visits / Q000191:economics; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics*; D015895:Relative Value Scales; D014481:United States