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How Far to the Hospital? The Effect of Hospital Closures on Access to Care

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  • Thomas C. Buchmueller
  • Mireille Jacobson
  • Cheryl Wold

Abstract

Do urban hospital closures affect health care access or health outcomes? We study closures in Los Angeles County between 1997 and 2003, through their effect on distance to the nearest hospital. We find that increased distance to the nearest hospital shifts regular care away from emergency rooms and outpatient clinics to doctor's offices. While most residents are otherwise unaffected by closures, lower-income residents report more difficulty accessing care, working age residents are less likely to receive HIV tests, and seniors less likely to receive flu shots. We also find some evidence that increased distance raises infant mortality rates and stronger evidence that it increases deaths from unintentional injuries and heart attacks.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 10700.

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Date of creation: Aug 2004
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10700

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  1. Cameron,A. Colin & Trivedi,Pravin K., 1998. "Regression Analysis of Count Data," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521635677.
  2. Gabor Kezdi, 2005. "Robus Standard Error Estimation in Fixed-Effects Panel Models," Econometrics 0508018, EconWPA.
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  4. Thomas C. Buchmueller & Mireille Jacobson & Cheryl Wold, 2004. "How Far to the Hospital? The Effect of Hospital Closures on Access to Care," NBER Working Papers 10700, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Lindrooth, Richard C. & Lo Sasso, Anthony T. & Bazzoli, Gloria J., 2003. "The effect of urban hospital closure on markets," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 691-712, September.
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  8. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Are Recessions Good For Your Health?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 115(2), pages 617-650, May.
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Cited by:
  1. Schmid, Andreas, 2007. "Incentive Compatibility and Efficiency in the contractual Insurer-Provider Relationship: Economic Theory and practical Implications: The Case of North Carolina," MPRA Paper 23311, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2008.
  2. Buchmueller, Thomas C. & Jacobson, Mireille & Wold, Cheryl, 2006. "How far to the hospital?: The effect of hospital closures on access to care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 740-761, July.
  3. Adhvaryu, Achyuta & Nyshadham, Anant, 2011. "Healthcare Choices, Information and Health Outcomes," Working Papers 88, Yale University, Department of Economics.
  4. Martin Gaynor & Robert J. Town, 2011. "Competition in Health Care Markets," NBER Working Papers 17208, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Capps, Cory & Dranove, David & Lindrooth, Richard C., 2010. "Hospital closure and economic efficiency," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 87-109, January.
  6. Guy David & Richard Lindrooth & Lorens A. Helmchen & Lawton R. Burns, 2011. "Do Hospitals Cross Subsidize?," NBER Working Papers 17300, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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