Tae Jung Yoon
May 21, 2013
Brown Bag Lunch Series
Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management
“Hospital and Surgeon Report Cards and Patient Sorting”
12:10PM - 1:10PM, Jacobs Center, Leverone 619
Abstract:
Demand-side informed choice behavior and supply-side gaming behavior after the report-card release have been presumed by previous studies, but they have not been identified separately. In this paper, I empirically examine both across-hospital and within-hospital patient sorting mechanisms induced by the cardiac surgery report cards in New Jersey. I find that patient severity of illness, traveling costs, admission sources, and provider capacity status affect patient sorting. Controlling for these factors, I show that patient informed choice, and provider gaming behavior separately affect patient sorting across hospitals after the report-card release. For within-hospital patient sorting, I find that admitted patients via cardiology departments are sorted better across cardiac surgeons than those via cardiac surgery departments within the same hospitals after the publication of the report cards.