Nursing Home Quality as a Public Good

40 Pages Posted: 20 Jul 2006 Last revised: 12 Oct 2022

See all articles by David C. Grabowski

David C. Grabowski

Harvard University - Department of Health Care Policy

Jonathan Gruber

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Joseph J. Angelelli

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: July 2006

Abstract

There has been much debate among economists about whether nursing home quality is a public good across Medicaid and private-pay patients within a common facility. However, there has been only limited empirical work addressing this issue. Using a unique individual level panel of residents of nursing homes from seven states, we exploit both within-facility and within-patient variation in payer source and quality to examine this issue. We also test the robustness of these results across states with different Medicaid and private-pay rate differentials. Across our various identification strategies, the results generally support the idea that quality is a public good within nursing homes. That is, within a common nursing home, there is very little evidence to suggest that Medicaid-funded residents receive consistently lower quality care relative to their private-paying counterparts.

Suggested Citation

Grabowski, David C. and Gruber, Jonathan and Angelelli, Joseph J., Nursing Home Quality as a Public Good (July 2006). NBER Working Paper No. w12361, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=917566

David C. Grabowski

Harvard University - Department of Health Care Policy ( email )

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Jonathan Gruber (Contact Author)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics ( email )

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Joseph J. Angelelli

affiliation not provided to SSRN

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