Abstract
We investigate the effect of certificate-of-need (CON) laws on the quality of hospitals. As of 2015, 36 states and the District of Columbia required healthcare providers to seek approval from a states healthcare regulator before making any major capital expenditures. These requirements restrict entry into the healthcare market. Therefore, incumbent medical providers in states with CON laws may face fewer competitive pressures. Hospital service quality is one important margin on which hospitals compete. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that hospitals in states with CON laws provide lower-quality services than hospitals in states without CON laws. Our results do not allow us to reject the hypothesis that CON hospitals deliver lower-quality care than non-CON hospitals. Nor do our results show that hospital quality is higher in CON states. Our overall results suggest that CON regulations lead to lower-quality care for some measures of quality and have little or no effect on other measures of quality. The results are largely robust to a variety of alternative samples and quality measures.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
