Hospital Prices, Market Structure and Cost Shifting

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Brief Description

Our most recent research finds that variation in prices paid by health insurance companies to hospitals in New Hampshire are not explained by differences in the quality of care, the complexity of the population served, payer mix, levels of market competition or the penetration of managed care

The share of a hospital’s revenues that were public was the single best predictor of the level of cost-shifting per private pay discharge

Insurance prices are slightly correlated with cost-shift per private payer. As the amount of cost shifted increases, so does the price of hospital services to insurance companies.