Choice in the presence of experts: the role of general practitioners in patients' hospital care

Choice in the presence of experts: the role of general practitioners in patients' hospital care This paper presents an analysis of patients' hospital choice for elective medical procedures when their choice set is pre-selected by a GP. The study found that patients defer to GPs when assessing hospital quality and tangible attributes such as hospital amenities and that GPs, in turn, as patients' agents present choice options based on quality, but as agents of health authorities also consider their financial implications. Institute for Fiscal Studies