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Is Hospital Quality Predictive of Pandemic Deaths? Evidence from US Counties

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  • Johannes S. Kunz

    (Monash Business School)

  • Carol Propper

    (Imperial College London)

Abstract

In the large literature on the spatial-level correlates of COVID-19, the association between quality of hospital care and outcomes has received little attention to date. To examine whether county-level mortality is correlated with measures of hospital performance, we assess daily cumulative deaths and pre-crisis measures of hospital quality, accounting for state fixed-effects and potential confounders. As a measure of quality, we use the pre-pandemic adjusted five-year penalty rates for excess 30-day readmissions following pneumonia admissions for the hospitals accessible to county residents based on ambulance travel patterns. Our adjustment corrects for socio-economic status and down-weighs observations based on small samples. We find that a one-standard-deviation increase in the quality of local hospitals is associated with a 2% lower death rate (relative to the mean of 20 deaths per 10,000 people) one and a half years after the first recorded death.

Suggested Citation

  • Johannes S. Kunz & Carol Propper, 2022. "Is Hospital Quality Predictive of Pandemic Deaths? Evidence from US Counties," Papers 2022-01, Centre for Health Economics, Monash University.
    • Handle: RePEc:mhe:chemon:2022-01
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; County-level Deaths; Hospital Quality; Health Care Systems;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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