Do Managed Care and Market Competition Lower Hospital Nursing Quality ?

As the efforts in health care cost-cutting continue to grow, so too does the need to understand their potential impact on the quality of care patients receive. This study uses patient outcome measures as a proxy for hospital quality to investigate what market forces affect them. Preliminary results show that the probability of an adverse outcome depends on market, hospital, and patient characteristics. Of particular interest is the finding that managed care penetration and hospital for-profit ownership status have negative effects on patient outcomes. A special thanks to Professor Frank Sloan, Duke University for providing this study the data and access to DxCG, a patient risk-adjustment program. Also a thank you to the Institute for Research in Social Sciences at the University of North Carolina for data and technical expertise. Address all correspondence to: Sarah Broome, University of Connecticut, School of Business, 2100 Hillside Road, Storrs CT, 06269-2041. Telephone 860-486-6422; email [email protected].