Relationship Between Psychosocial Physician Characteristics and Physician Price Awareness

ABSTRACTPrevious research in the area of physician price awareness has identified a general lack of physicians' awareness regarding the prices their cash patients pay at the pharmacy. This research was an attempt to identify whether different demographic or psychosocial variables could be used to predict physician price awareness. Specifically, a hierarchical regression model was tested to assess whether psychosocial variables and demographic variables could explain price awareness differences better than demographic variables alone. A telephone survey of 200 primary care and internal medicine physicians was conducted asking physicians to estimate the cash price for 20 commonly prescribed prescription drugs at the usual quantities dispensed. Additionally, physicians were administered the 14-item Physician Belief Scale (two subscales: “Belief and Feeling” and “Burden”) and the 20-item Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (three subscales: “Perspective Taking,” “Compassionate Care,” and “Standing in the Pat...