Technology Diffusion and Productivity Growth in Health Care

Jonathan Skinner and Doug Staiger

The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2015, vol. 97, issue 5, 951-964

Abstract: We draw on macroeconomic models of diffusion and productivity to explain empirical patterns of survival gains in heart attacks. Using Medicare data for 2.8 million patients from 1986 to 2004, we find that hospitals rapidly adopting cost-effective innovations such as beta blockers, aspirin, and reperfusion had substantially better outcomes for their patients. Holding technology adoption constant, the marginal returns to spending were relatively modest. Hospitals increasing the pace of technology diffusion (“tigers”) experienced triple the survival gains compared to those with diminished rates (“tortoises”). In sum, small differences in the propensity to adopt effective technology lead to wide productivity differences across hospitals.

Keywords: technology; health care; productivity; survival gains; innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D24 I10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (57)

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Working Paper: Technology Diffusion and Productivity Growth in Health Care (2009)
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