Publications
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The Price of Childbirth in the U.S. Tops $13,000 in 2020
Read more: The Price of Childbirth in the U.S. Tops $13,000 in 2020As HCCI has previously documented, the price of childbirth in the U.S. is higher than in many other countries. When prices are high, patients with health insurance pay directly through coinsurance (i.e., cost-sharing calculated as a percent of what their insurer pays for the service) and over time, as higher prices charged to insurers are…
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Birthing People in the U.S. Pay Nearly $2,000 Out-of-Pocket to Have a Baby
Read more: Birthing People in the U.S. Pay Nearly $2,000 Out-of-Pocket to Have a BabyThe birth of a child is momentous for any person and family. New parents may face a range of challenges, including a lack of paid family leave, the rising costs of childcare, and potential health-related complications for the birthing person and new baby. In the midst of this major life transition, parents also face new…
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As COVID-19 Hit, Birthing People Spent Less Time in the Hospital for Delivery
Read more: As COVID-19 Hit, Birthing People Spent Less Time in the Hospital for DeliveryThe COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Americans in a myriad of ways, including their use of the health care system for both COVID- and non-COVID related services. In this brief, we explore the ways in which the first year of the pandemic affected people for one of the most common hospital services – childbirth. In 2020,…
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COVID Tests Cost $0 for Most People in 2020
for Most People in 2020″ style=”border-radius:5px;width:100%;height:100%;object-fit:cover;” decoding=”async” loading=”lazy” />Read more: COVID Tests Cost $0 for Most People in 2020COVID-19 testing has become a regular part of life for many Americans over the last two years. In addition to facilitating individual returns to work, school, and other activities, testing is a crucial component of the public health strategy to monitor and address the spread of the virus. Even as testing becomes more available, there…
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JAMA: Variability in Prices Paid for Hemodialysis by Employer-Sponsored Insurance in the US From 2012 to 2019
Read more: JAMA: Variability in Prices Paid for Hemodialysis by Employer-Sponsored Insurance in the US From 2012 to 2019Abstract: Recent proposals have sought to limit the amount dialysis clinics charge private payers, but little is known about the prices that private insurers actually pay for dialysis. In this study, we provide novel evidence on dialysis prices based on claims data for a large national sample of private employer-sponsored insurance carriers.
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NBER: Do Higher-Priced Hospitals Deliver Higher-Quality Care?
Tags: NBERRead more: NBER: Do Higher-Priced Hospitals Deliver Higher-Quality Care?Abstract: We analyze whether receiving care from higher-priced hospitals leads to lower mortality. We overcome selection issues by using an instrumental variable approach which exploits that ambulance companies are quasi-randomly assigned to transport patients and have strong preferences for certain hospitals. Being admitted to a hospital with two standard deviations higher prices raises spending by…
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JAMA Internal Medicine: Association of Physician Management Companies and Private Equity Investment With Commercial Health Care Prices Paid to Anesthesia Practitioners
Tags: Physician SpendingRead more: JAMA Internal Medicine: Association of Physician Management Companies and Private Equity Investment With Commercial Health Care Prices Paid to Anesthesia PractitionersABSTRACT Importance Physician management companies (PMCs), often backed by private equity (PE), are increasingly providing staffing and management services to health care facilities, yet little is known of their influence on prices. Objective To study changes in prices paid to practitioners (anesthesiologists and certified registered nurse anesthetists) before and after an outpatient facility contracted with…
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Love is Expensive; So is a Trip to the Emergency Room
Tags: Emergency Room
Read more: Love is Expensive; So is a Trip to the Emergency RoomWe further explored state variation in the difference between per person ER spending and per person Valentine’s Day spending. We find that if you live in Texas, Colorado, Alaska, or Nevada, you might end up paying over $200 more for an ER visit than a Valentine’s Day gift. If you live in California, Hawaii, or…
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CBO: The Prices That Commercial Health Insurers and Medicare Pay for Hospitals’ and Physicians’ Services
Read more: CBO: The Prices That Commercial Health Insurers and Medicare Pay for Hospitals’ and Physicians’ ServicesAbstract: CBO examined potential reasons that the prices paid by commercial health insurers for hospitals’ and physicians’ services are higher, rise more quickly, and vary more by area than the prices paid by the Medicare fee-for-service program.
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Assessing the Long-Term Viability of Data Platforms for Research
Read more: Assessing the Long-Term Viability of Data Platforms for ResearchHealth care in the United States is notoriously fragmented. A patient may receive care from a variety of health systems, physicians, and other providers, and that care may or may not be recorded in a patchwork of administrative claims data systems and electronic health record (EHR) systems. At the same time, health data has become…