Patients treated by altruistic physicians had lower health care spending and were less likely to experience preventable hospital admissions and emergency department visits, according to a recent study.
The cross-sectional study examined the association between physician altruism and patient outcomes, including healthcare spending. Researchers linked 2019 Medicare claims data with a validated economic experiment to assess physician altruism. Physicians were categorized based on their responses in a modified dictator game, which measured their prioritization of others' welfare over self-interest.
Eighteen percent of the participating physicians, or 45 out of 250, were identified as altruistic. Twenty-one percent of the patients, totaling 1,599 out of 7,626, were under the care of altruistic physicians.
Published in JAMA Health Forum, the study found that patients of altruistic physicians had a lower likelihood of potentially preventable hospital admissions (odds ratio [OR], 0.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.38-0.97; P = .03) and emergency department visits (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.43-0.94; P = .02). Additionally, healthcare spending for these patients was approximately 9% lower compared with those treated by non-altruistic physicians (95% CI, -16.24% to -2.27%; P = .01).
The researchers indicate that organizational and training factors affecting physician altruism could be areas for further study, considering the observed impact on patient outcomes and healthcare spending. The study recommends further research to examine how physician altruism influences care quality and spending in various specialties and healthcare systems.
Full disclosures can be found in the published study.