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Effect of physician disclosure of specialty bias on patient trust and treatment choice.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Sah, S; Fagerlin, A; Ubel, P
Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
July 2016

This paper explores the impact of disclosures of bias on advisees. Disclosure-informing advisees of a potential bias-is a popular solution for managing conflicts of interest. Prior research has focused almost exclusively on disclosures of financial conflicts of interest but little is known about how disclosures of other types of biases could impact advisees. In medicine, for example, physicians often recommend the treatment they specialize in; e.g., surgeons are more likely to recommend surgery than nonsurgeons. In recognition of this bias, some physicians inform patients about their specialty bias when other similarly effective treatment options exist. Using field data (recorded transcripts of surgeon-patient consultations) from Veteran Affairs hospitals and a randomized controlled laboratory experiment, we examine and find that disclosures of specialty bias increase patients' trust and their likelihood of choosing a treatment in accordance with the physicians' specialty. Physicians in the field also increased the strength of their recommendation to have the specialty treatment when they disclosed their bias or discussed the opportunity for the patient to seek a consultation with a physician from another specialty. These findings have important implications for handling advisor bias, shared advisor-advisee decision-making, and disclosure policies.

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Published In

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI

EISSN

1091-6490

ISSN

0027-8424

Publication Date

July 2016

Volume

113

Issue

27

Start / End Page

7465 / 7469

Related Subject Headings

  • Trust
  • Specialties, Surgical
  • Prostatic Neoplasms
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Disclosure
  • Decision Making
 

Citation

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Sah, S., Fagerlin, A., & Ubel, P. (2016). Effect of physician disclosure of specialty bias on patient trust and treatment choice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113(27), 7465–7469. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1604908113
Sah, Sunita, Angela Fagerlin, and Peter Ubel. “Effect of physician disclosure of specialty bias on patient trust and treatment choice.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 113, no. 27 (July 2016): 7465–69. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1604908113.
Sah S, Fagerlin A, Ubel P. Effect of physician disclosure of specialty bias on patient trust and treatment choice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2016 Jul;113(27):7465–9.
Sah, Sunita, et al. “Effect of physician disclosure of specialty bias on patient trust and treatment choice.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 113, no. 27, July 2016, pp. 7465–69. Epmc, doi:10.1073/pnas.1604908113.
Sah S, Fagerlin A, Ubel P. Effect of physician disclosure of specialty bias on patient trust and treatment choice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2016 Jul;113(27):7465–7469.
Journal cover image

Published In

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI

EISSN

1091-6490

ISSN

0027-8424

Publication Date

July 2016

Volume

113

Issue

27

Start / End Page

7465 / 7469

Related Subject Headings

  • Trust
  • Specialties, Surgical
  • Prostatic Neoplasms
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Disclosure
  • Decision Making