A "Brand Name Firm" Theory of Medical Group Practice
提出医疗集团的形成是为了更高效地向患者传递质量信息，品牌名效应比规模经济更重要，并通过医学与牙科、全科与专科的对比验证了这一假设。
MEDICAL group practices are firms, voluntary contracts between two or more practitioners to jointly provide services, purchase inputs, and distribute income. It is hypothesized that one reason why such organizations are formed is to more efficiently convey information on quality of care to patients, and further, that the increased efficiency of doctor-patient exchange is usually more important than economies of scale in production. A name theory of medical group practice is presented and then tested by comparisons between medicine and dentistry, generalist and specialist practice, and by variations in mobility across patients and providers. Observed variation in the extent and contractual structure of group practice strongly supports the brand name firm hypothesis and is inconsistent with economies of scale explanations.