Does telemedicine technology affect prescribing quality in primary care? The case of antibiotics

We study the impact of telemedicine technology on antibiotic prescription rates using linked administrative data from Australia on physicians and their patients. We classify physicians by their relative use of remote consultations after the introduction of government-subsidised telemedicine services prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and compare their antibiotic prescribing rates before and after telemedicine services became available. We find that more intense telemedicine adopters prescribe less antibiotics while keeping prescribing quality unchanged. We show that our results are not explained by patient sorting, doctor shopping, or changes in the intensity of consultations.