We examine how changes in hospital ownership to and from for-profit status affect quality and Medicare payments per hospital stay. We hypothesize that hospitals converting to for-profit ownership boost post acquisition profitability by reducing dimensions of quality not readily observed by patients and by raising prices. We find that 1-2 years after conversion to for-profit status, mortality of...

Among the major forms of corporate ownership, the not-for-profit ownership form is distinct in its behavior, legal constraints, and moral obligations. A new empirical analysis of the American Hospital industry, using eleven years of data for all urban general hospitals in the country, shows that corporate form accounts for large differences in the provision of specific medical services. Not-for...

INTRODUCTION Changes in food availability in worksites can result in changes in eating behavior and weight status. Nemours Health and Prevention Services, in conjunction with partners in Delaware, conducted a 6-month pilot program to assess the feasibility and impact of requiring that 75% of the items in vending machines in 3 state agency buildings have healthful items. METHODS We collected p...

Although recent policy initiatives aimed at concentrating selected surgical procedures in high-volume hospitals may reduce mortality, their economic implications have not been considered fully. From the hospital perspective, the primary effect of these policies will be to redistribute surgical profits to bigger centers. From the payer perspective, prices paid for procedures will likely increase...

BACKGROUND The literature comparing private not-for-profit, for-profit, and government providers mostly relies on empirical evidence from high-income and established market economies. Studies from developing and transitional economies remain scarce, especially regarding patient case-mix and quality of care in public and private hospitals, even though countries such as China have expanded a mixe...

Economic profit is produced by entrepreneurs, those special individuals able to detect and seize as yet unexploited market opportunities. In general capitalist firms manage to deliver positive profits even in the most competitive environments. They can do so thanks to internal entrepreneurs, a subset of their employees able to drive change and develop innovation in the workplace. This paper arg...

The pricing behavior of non-profit hospitals is an important issue given the size of the non-profit hospital sector in relation to the for-profit sector. It is generally accepted in the literature that for-profit hospitals set higher prices than their non-profit counterparts. However, there is disagreement over the relative behavior of the different types of hospital in the presence of market p...