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Short‐term fluctuations in hospital demand: implications for admission, discharge, and discriminatory behavior

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  • Rajiv Sharma
  • Miron Stano
  • Renu Gehring

Abstract

We analyze admission and discharge decisions when hospitals become capacity constrained on high‐demand days, and develop a test for discrimination that, under certain circumstances, does not require controls for differences across patient groups. On high‐demand days, patients are discharged earlier than expected compared to those discharged on low‐demand days. High demand creates no statistically significant differences in hospitals' admission behavior. Thus, hospitals appear to ration capacity by hastening discharges rather than by restricting admissions. We could not reject a null hypothesis of no discrimination against Medicaid patients in discharges.

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  • Rajiv Sharma & Miron Stano & Renu Gehring, 2008. "Short‐term fluctuations in hospital demand: implications for admission, discharge, and discriminatory behavior," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 39(2), pages 586-606, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:randje:v:39:y:2008:i:2:p:586-606
    DOI: 10.1111/j.0741-6261.2008.00029.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Bhalotra, Sonia R. & Nunes, Letícia & Rocha, Rudi, 2020. "Urgent Care Centers, Hospital Performance and Population Health," IZA Discussion Papers 13992, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Alejandro Arrieta & Ariadna García-Prado, 2012. "Non-elective cesarean sections in public hospitals: hospital capacity constraints and doctor´s incentives," Documentos de Trabajo - Lan Gaiak Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra 1212, Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra.
    3. Bhalotra, Sonia & Nunes, Letícia & Rocha, Rudi, 2023. "Emergency Care Centers, Hospital Performance and Population Health," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 659, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    4. Matthew C. Harris & Yinan Liu & Ian McCarthy, 2020. "Capacity constraints and time allocation in public health clinics," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(3), pages 324-336, March.
    5. Kleiner, Samuel A., 2019. "Hospital treatment and patient outcomes: Evidence from capacity constraints," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 94-118.
    6. Matthew C. Harris & Yinan Liu & Ian McCarthy, 2019. "Capacity Constraints and the Provision of Public Services: The Case of Workers in Public Health Clinics," NBER Working Papers 25706, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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