This study offers a first test on an important assumption upon which the competitive approach to cost containment is based. The principle research objective is to investigate the impact of physician fee information on consumer behavior. Physician fee information may affect several different types of consumer behavior including: consumer search behavior; the choice of physician; overall medical care resource utilization; and the inclusion of cost issues in consumer discussions with physicians. In addition to examining aggregate effects, the research will also attempt to identify those factors which mediate the relationship between consumer possession of physician fee information and the use of this information in making health care decisions. Of special interest are the moderating effects of enabling factors, predisposing factors and medical need. The proposed study will employ an experimental design with both experimental and control groups drawn from among 274 randomly selected public employees, and 274 randomly selected Medicare enrollees. The project draws upon research in economics, competition, consumer information, insurance and health care consumption, and advertising. There are several important outcome measures: measures of health care utilization including both the amount of services used and measures of physician/consumer interaction.
