Date and Time
June 29, 2009
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

Availability
Open to the public
No RSVP required

Speaker
Vincenzo Atella - Stanford University

The aim of the paper is to assess the role that technological change can have on two different measures of health outcomes using a large and detailed dataset of Italian patients collected by the Italian College of General Practitioners (SIMG) over the period 2001-2006. In particular, we first explore the role that technical progress (in terms of product and process innovations) has on the speed of recovery to a good health status, measured in terms of distance of cholesterol levels from therapeutic goals imposed by international clinical guidelines. As second step we explore if patients recovering faster exhibit lower hospitalization rates for cardiovascular diseases. We adopt a model based on partial adjustment mechanism, as in investment theory, since patients tend to converge to their steady-state optimal cholesterol levels in more than a single period. The results obtained confirm the important role of technical progress in sharply reducing the time needed to achieve the therapeutic goal, and how this role can be amplified by better patient adherence to therapies and physician prescribing behavior. These results are then discussed in terms of policy.