Behavioral Economics & "Diffusion of Responsibility"

At a recent Certificate Program Event (organized through the UW Medicine Center for Scholarship in Patient Care Quality and Safety), VSSL members Drs. Leah Marcotte & Joshua Liao led a session describing behavioral economics principles and their role in addressing the phenomenon of "diffusion of responsibility".

Diffusion of responsibility describes how individuals and teams can underperform in context of shared accountability -- a salient issue that can pose a particular challenge in health care given complexities in payment and care delivery.

Drs. Marcotte and Liao (a) introduced the concept and principles of behavioral economics, (b) described the problem of diffusion of responsibility in health care, and (c) discussed how behavioral economics can be applied by team and project leaders to mitigate diffusion of responsibility.

Those interested in learning more, or having similar presentations delivered to their team members, can contact VSSL by sending a message via the "Explore a VSSL Collaboration" submission form here.