Emergency Care Centers, Hospital Performance and Population Health

Sonia Bhalotra, Letícia Nunes and Rudi Rocha
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Sonia Bhalotra: University of Warwick

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Abstract: Hospitals are under increasing pressure as they bear a growing burden of chronic disease while also dealing with emergency cases that do not all require hospital care. Many countries have responded by introducing alternative facilities that provide 24/7 care for basic and medium-complexity cases. Using administrative data, we investigate impacts of the opening of these intermediate facilities (UPA) in the state of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. We find that an UPA opening in the catchment area of a hospital reduces hospital outpatient procedures and admissions and that this is associated with improved hospital performance. There is a decline in inpatient mortality, particularly mortality from the more complex conditions that hospitals are best equipped to deal with. There is no discernible change in the risk profile of cases going to hospital, and no concurrent policy changes that can account for these findings. In order to capture displacement effects, we investigate city-level population outcomes. We find that two-thirds of the decline in hospital mortality is offset by deaths in UPAs. Looking at individual death causes, we see a net decline in deaths from congestive heart failure.

Keywords: urgent care centers; hospital performance; displacement effects; health outcomes JEL codes: I11; I15; I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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Working Paper: Emergency Care Centers, Hospital Performance and Population Health (2023)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wrk:warwec:1456

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