Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
7362844 | Journal of Health Economics | 2018 | 13 Pages |
Abstract
This paper seeks to understand the impact of the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility (Flex) Program on hospital choice and consumer welfare for rural residents. The Flex Program created a new class of hospital, the Critical Access Hospital (CAH), which receives more generous Medicare reimbursements in return for limits on capacity and length of stay. We find that conversion to CAH status resulted in a 4.7 percent drop in inpatient admissions to participating hospitals, almost all of which was driven by factors other than capacity constraints. The Flex Program increased consumer welfare if it prevented the exit of at least 6.5 percent of randomly selected converting hospitals.
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Authors
Gautam Gowrisankaran, Claudio Lucarelli, Philipp Schmidt-Dengler, Robert Town,