Capacity and Utilization in Health Care: The Effect of Empty Beds on Neonatal Intensive Care Admission

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Freedman, Seth
• 署名单位: Indiana University System; Indiana University Bloomington
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-ECONOMIC POLICY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7731
• DOI: 10.1257/pol.20120393
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 154-185
• 关键词: managed care; TECHNOLOGY; TRENDS; unit; discharge; mortality; birth

摘要

Because geographic variation in medical care utilization is jointly determined by both supply and demand, it is difficult to empirically estimate whether capacity itself has a causal impact on utilization in health care. In this paper, I exploit short-term variation in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) capacity that is unlikely to be correlated with unobserved demand determinants. I find that available NICU beds have little to no effect on NICU utilization for the sickest infants, but do increase utilization for those in the range of birth weights where admission decisions are likely to be more discretionary.