Chee-Ruey Hsieh

Health Information and the Demand for Preventive Care among the Elderly in Taiwan

This paper uses a direct measure of information to empirically investigate the determinants of consumer health information and the linkage of the information to demand for preventive care. In our analysis, two equations are estimated: (1) health information and (2) demand for preventive care, which includes health information as an endogenous explanatory variable. Overall, the results show that more and better health information increases the probability that the elderly will use preventive care. This result, in combination with the finding that health information is not uniform among the elderly, suggests that poor information can become an access barrier to preventive care.

Financial incentives and physicians' prescription decisions on the choice between brand-name and generic drugs: evidence from Taiwan.

This paper tests the hypothesis of whether or not financial incentives affect a physicians prescription decision on the choice of generic versus brand-name drugs within a system in which physicians prescribe and dispense drugs. By using data obtained from Taiwan and focusing on diabetic patients, our empirical results provide several consistent findings in support of the hypothesis that profit incentives do affect the physicians prescribing decision, suggesting that physicians act as imperfect agents. An important implication of our findings is that rent seeking for profit margin between the reimbursement and the acquisition price instead of reducing costs is the major driving force behind generic substitution. As a result, the providers instead of the payers or consumers reap the financial benefits of generic substitution.

Smoking, health knowledge, and anti-smoking campaigns: an empirical study in Taiwan.

This paper uses a measure of health knowledge of smoking hazards to investigate the determinants of health knowledge and its effect on smoking behavior. In our analysis, two equations are estimated: smoking participation and health knowledge. The simultaneity problem in estimating smoking behavior and health knowledge is also considered. Overall, the estimated results suggest that anti-smoking campaigns have a significantly positive effect on the publics health knowledge, and this health knowledge in turn, has a significantly negative effect on smoking participation. The health knowledge elasticities of smoking participation are -0.48 and -0.56 for all adults and adult males, respectively.

Risk perception and smoking behavior: Empirical evidence from Taiwan

This article uses survey data obtained from Taiwan to investigate consumer perceptions of smoking risks and the linkage of these perceptions to smoking behavior. In our analysis, two equations are estimated: (1) risk perception, and (2) smoking probability. The simultaneity problem in estimating risk perception and smoking probability is also considered. Overall, the results indicate that the risk perceptions of cigarette smoking are substantially overestimated and that these risk perceptions in turn, have a significantly negative effect on smoking probability. Also, the results suggest that the determinants of risk perception are consistent with the predictions of a Bayesian learning framework.

Health risk and the decision to quit smoking

This study contributes to the understanding of the decision to quit smoking by taking into account the learning of new risk information. The specific hypothesis tested is that smokers learn new risk information and hence create an incentive to quit from their own experience. Probit models are estimated for the decision to quit smoking based on longitudinal data obtained from Taiwan. It is shown that health risk, measured by the observed change in health status over the period between two surveys, has a relatively substantial positive effect on the probability of quitting smoking. In addition, the results indicate that schooling has a significantly positive effect on the probability of quitting. These findings are consistent with the predictions of a Bayesian learning framework and suggest that the risk information obtained from individual experience, which is the sole source of information available to smokers in most developing countries, plays the same role that public information does.

Cost of chronic hepatitis B virus infection in Taiwan.

Goals: To estimate the direct medical costs involved in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients in Taiwan from a public resource perspective. Background: Taiwan is a hepatitis B virus (HBV)-hyperendemic area that has considerable expertise in conducting hepatitis studies. To date, however, these studies have focused on basic science or clinical research associated with hepatitis B, and little attention has been paid to the social and monetary consequences of treatment and vaccination programs in Taiwan. Study: Total per-patient annual costs were calculated for each of five disease states associated with hepatitis B infection. Method: Claims data of National Health Insurance in 2000 were used to identify patients with CHB and to estimate breakdown costs of their medical usage. Medical costs included hospital admissions and outpatient visits, with fees being reimbursed by the National Health Insurance system and patient co-payments. Results: The average total costs per patient for each disease state in the year 2000 were as follows: CHB without cirrhosis, 4905 new Taiwan dollars (NT

Healthcare Payment Incentives: A Comparative Analysis of Reforms in Taiwan, South Korea and China

); compensated cirrhosis, NT

Adoption of Pharmaceutical Innovation and the Growth of Drug Expenditure in Taiwan: Is It Cost Effective?

6,574; decompensated cirrhosis, NT

Regulation and competition in the Taiwanese pharmaceutical market under national health insurance.

36,621; hepatocellular carcinoma, NT

Is the pro-competition policy an effective solution for China's public hospital reform?

95,741; and liver transplantation, NT