Exploring Key Trends in Hospital Pricing Using Data From the Health Care Cost Institute
This session will revolve around four papers created using insurance claims data made available by the Health Care Cost Institute. Each of these papers will rely on negotiated hospital prices paid by insurers in the analysis. In Paper 1, Cutler, Dafny, and Ody examine whether and to what extent consolidation in the U.S. dialysis industry has affected prices negotiated between clinics and insurers. This paper makes use of detailed facility data for the period 2000-2011, during which the market share of the two industry leaders increased from just over one-third to more than two-thirds. In Paper 2, Cooper, Gaynor, and Van Reenen present evidence on the national trends and variations in negotiated hospital transaction prices in the U.S. In addition, in this paper, the authors examine whether higher priced hospitals deliver higher quality care. In paper 3, Dranove, Garthwaite and Ody will examine the effects of business cycles on health insurance risk pools. This work will focus on whether or not slowdowns in business cycles can lead to adverse selection. Finally, in paper 4, Parente et al. will be using the data to develop a Medical Productivity Index (MPI) that relates the funds paid out by insurers and effort spent on medical treatment to health outcomes for the privately insured. This paper will focus on variations in MPI across mental health providers. The application of MPI to retrospective claims provides a tool to gauge the impact of policy changes on productivity.