Behavioural Biases of Patients and Medical Professionals in Regenerative Medical Technology Markets

The aim of this pilot study was to understand doctors, surgeons and healthcare professional’s knowledge and behaviours in the medical marketplace for women’s breast reconstruction technology following cancer treatment.

Why is this important?

Healthcare service industries (generally) are characterised by the joint provision of diagnosis and service. Within the interaction, the expert seller provides information that informs and may influence the consumption decision of the buyer. Behavioural economists refer to this information asymmetry between seller (expert/medical professionals) and buyer (consumer/patient) as the transaction of a credence good (Dulleck et al. 2011).

Credence goods are characterized by qualities that cannot be detected by consumers, preventing them from assessing the true value. Market failure (negative outcomes for patients and society) thus occurs through over and/or under treatment. Most importantly, sellers (experts/medical professionals) in such scenarios may not be aware of their biased behaviour, and instead believe they are genuinely acting in the best interest of their patient.

What did we do?

This pilot’s key aim was to understand the decision process and (and barriers to) information flow provided by healthcare professionals in this life changing setting for women (the marketplace for breast reconstruction ex poste cancer treatment), so as to ensure the most efficient and effective introduction and uptake of new regenerative breast technology currently being researched, designed and produced by the team lead by Distinguished Prof Dr Hutmacher, at QUT IHBI.

What did we find out?

Participants will be able to access key findings from this project once finalised.