Edward C. Norton, University of Michigan - Do Report Cards Predict Future Quality?  The Case of Skilled Nursing Facilities

Title: Do Report Cards Predict Future Quality?  The Case of Skilled Nursing Facilities

Abstract:  Report cards are intended to improve consumer decision-making and foster a market for quality. However, inadequate risk adjustment of report card measures often biases comparisons across firms. We test whether skilled nursing facility (SNF) star ratings causally predict the quality-related outcomes that are important to patients and providers. We examine to effect of an increase in the star rating of a chosen SNF after an inpatient hospital stay on the number of days spent in SNF, hospital, in the community with and without home health care, and deceased. To identify the causal effect of star rating on health care outcomes, we exploit variation over time in the distance from a patient’s residential ZIP code to SNFs. We found that patients who go to higher-rated SNFs achieved better outcomes, supporting the validity of the SNF report card ratings. A one-star increase is associated with a 5% decrease in mortality over 180 days after SNF admission, as well as 3.3% and 2.4% decrease in number of days spent in inpatient hospital and SNF care, respectively; and 4.0% and 2.5% increase in number of days spent at home in the community with and without home health care.

Presenter: Edward C. Norton, University of Michigan

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Health Economics Seminars 2019

University of Melbourne Health Economics Group (UMHEG)

University of Melbourne Health Economics Group (UMHEG) is pleased to announce a new seminar series in health economics. This will be held four times a year and hosted in rotation by the Faculty of Business and Economics (the Melbourne Institute and Department of Economics) and the School of Population and Global Health (Health Economics Unit, (Centre for Health Policy) and the Nossal Institute of Global Health).

UMHEG is a cross-faculty network of over 50 economists based at the University of Melbourne that conducts collaborative applied and methodological health economics research.  The aims of this new seminar series are to: i) promote the role of health economics across the University and externally, and ii) to provide a connected and motivated environment for health economists at UoM that encourages cross-faculty collaboration between FMDHS and FBE.