Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
From the N.Y. Times: Esther Duflo, a development economist at M.I.T., has been awarded the John Bates Clark Medal. The award is given to “that American economist under the age of 40 who is judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.” Professor Duflo, 37, helped found the Abdul Latif…
Obama makes hospitals allow gay visitation rights. Geographic variation in hip replacement costs. Postoperative sepsis rates increase 8%. Which heartburn treatments are cost effective? A life-threatening disease invades the pacific northwest.
Many researchers claim that decreasing physician reimbursement will decrease Medicare expenditures. Mechanically, this is true, but in reality, physicians may adjust their treatment behavior to make up for lost income. A study by Yip (1998) evaluates how change in reimbursement for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgeries affected the volume of CABG surgeries physicians perform. …
The latest edition of the Cavalcade of Risk is up at My Wealth Builder.
How do changes in Medicare fees affect the quantity of medical care supplied by providers? A paper by Hadley and Reschovsky (2006) examine this question be estimating the elasticity of supply. They find the following: Medicare fees are positively related to both the number of beneficiaries treated (η=0.12–0.61) and service intensity (η=1.04–1.71). Physicians with apparent…
Do physicians cost shift after Medicare reduces reimbursement rates? A paper by Rice et al. (1999) examines whether or not this in fact occurred after Medicare reduced payment for surgical procedures in the late 1980s. To be more specific, “The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 (OBRA-89) reduced Medicare physician payment rates for thirty-six groups…
What if Medicare spends reimburses physicians too generously for a certain service. Will reducing reimbursement for that service decrease utilization and cost? A study by Mitchell, Hadley and Gaskin (2002) attempts to answer this question by examining the impact of changing Medicare reimbursement for cataract surgeries. Between 1992 and 1994, Medicare decreased fees paid for…
I have recently read in the press a number of mentions of the phrase “developing a pre-existing condition.” For instance, a Cato Institute paper discusses this phenomenon and how you can buy insurance against developing a pre-existing condition. This phrase seem paradoxical however. How can you develop a pre-existing condition? Before you “developed” the condition,…
Gooznews: Whether to save money be reducing prices or quantity. Do new drugs decrease health spending? Do new cancer drugs and imaging techniques reduce mortality? Preventive care’s true cost. Wooing half-hearted terrorists. Does it matter if you eat your fruits and veggies?
The latest edition of the Health Wonk Review is up at David Harlow’s HealthBlawg.