Working Paper: NBER ID: w16926
Authors: Jill R. Horwitz; Austin Nichols
Abstract: Roughly one half of hospitals in the U.S. are in rural areas, yet researchers have largely studied the effects of hospital ownership in the urban context. We examine differences in the provision of profitable and unprofitable medical services in rural areas across nonprofit, for-profit, and government hospitals. We also consider the effect of hospital ownership mix within rural hospital markets. We find that rural nonprofit hospitals are more likely than for-profit hospitals to offer unprofitable services, many of which are underprovided services. Nonprofits respond less than for-profits to changes in service profitability. Nonprofits with more for-profit competitors offer more profitable services and fewer unprofitable services than those with fewer for-profit competitors.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: H1; I1; L1; L13; L22; L3
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| rural nonprofit hospitals (L39) | offer unprofitable services (L84) |
| ownership type (R21) | responsiveness to changes in service profitability (L21) |
| more for-profit competitors (L19) | nonprofit hospitals behave like for-profits (L30) |
| nonprofit hospitals (L39) | offer more profitable services and fewer unprofitable ones (L84) |