Do Higher-Priced Hospitals Deliver Higher-Quality Care?
36 Pages Posted: 28 Feb 2022 Last revised: 13 Jun 2022
Date Written: February 2022
Abstract
We analyze whether receiving care from higher-priced hospitals leads to lower mortality. We overcome selection issues by using an instrumental variable approach which exploits that ambulance companies are quasi-randomly assigned to transport patients and have strong preferences for certain hospitals. Being admitted to a hospital with two standard deviations higher prices raises spending by 52% and lowers mortality by 1 percentage point (35%). However, the relationship between higher prices and lower mortality is only present at hospitals in less concentrated markets. Receiving care from an expensive hospital in a concentrated market increases spending but has no detectable effect on mortality.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation