Regional variation in health care utilization and mortality

Geographic variation in health care utilization has raised concerns of possible inefficiencies in health care supply, as differences are often not reflected in health outcomes. Using comprehensive Norwegian microdata, we exploit cross-region migration to analyze regional variation in health care utilization. Our results indicate that place factors account for half of the difference in utilization between high and low utilization regions, while the rest reflects patient demand. We further document heterogeneous impacts of place across socioeconomic groups. Place factors account for 75% of the regional utilization difference for high school dropouts, and 40% for high school graduates; for patients with a college degree, the impact of place is negligible. We find no statistically significant association between the estimated place effects and overall mortality. However, we document a negative association between place effects and utilization-intensive causes of death such as cancer, suggesting high-supply regions may achieve modestly improved health outcomes.     

Response: Anxiety and behaviour in and beyond ASD; does the idea of ‘PDA’ really help? – a response to Green (2020)

This paper is in response to the commentary written by Richard Woods in which he attempts to provide support for his Monotropism autism theory and the research indicating that Demand Avoidance Phenomena may not be developmentally persistent (Woods, 2019). We acknowledge the continuing controversy around the proposed construct of PDA and the clinical dilemma faced by professionals, within the United Kingdom, following increased demand from families seeking assessment and support. We appreciate that research on this topic is scarce and understanding of PDA behaviours remains limited and that methodological improvements are required. However, it is important to remember that anxiety, which often has an onset in middle childhood and adolescence, is a major risk factor for mental health difficulties. Therefore, treatments targeting underlying and potentially modifiable mechanisms rather than anxiety symptoms may be more likely to be effective.     

Readmission treatment price and product quality in the hospital sector

In this paper, we study the effect of readmission treatment payment in a dynamic framework characterised by competition among hospitals and sluggish beliefs of patients concerning the service quality. We find that the effect of readmission treatment payment depends on the interplay between the effect of quality in lowering readmissions and its effect on future demand. When the readmission occurrence strongly depends on the service quality, the higher the readmission treatment payment for hospitals, the lower the incentive to provide quality. Instead, when readmission depends barely on quality, the readmission payment acts as the treatment price for first admissions, and thus it reinforces the incentive to provide quality. We also show that the detrimental effect of readmission payments on quality are fed by a high degree of demand sluggishness, that is, by situation where current quality has modest effect on future demand changes. Our findings are robust to different equilibrium concepts of the differential game (i.e., open‐loop and state‐feedback). The results suggest that a discounted regulated price for readmission can be an effective (and cost‐free) policy tool to improve health care quality, especially when the market is characterised by sluggish beliefs about quality.     

甘肃省养老机构老年人健康服务需求及影响因素分析

目的探讨甘肃省养老机构老年人健康服务需求现状及主要影响因素,为健全和完善机构养老服务提供理论依据。方法选取甘肃省兰州市、张掖市和平凉市养老机构的360名老年人作为调查对象,采用自设问卷对其进行调查。结果养老机构老年人健康服务需求总分为28.48±5.78分,地区、家庭类型、文化程度为影响健康服务需求的独立影响因素。欠发达地区,不完整的家庭及文化程度较低的老人对健康服务需求更高。结论应根据不同特征老年人的需求有针对性地提供相关养老服务项目。养老机构应该定期采集老年人的意见,鼓励子女探望,大力开展健康知识宣教,并完善养老与医疗服务机构间的合作机制。     

Conditional cash transfer policies in maternal health service utilization in Nepal: Analysis of safe delivery incentive program (Aama Surakshya Karyakram) using Kingdon's multiple streams framework

Various factors limit access to and utilization of health services even when provided at subsidized cost. This results in poor utilization of services that contributes to further economic impoverishment and health care disparity. Many countries are experimenting with various approaches to tackle the poor utilization of health care services including demand‐side financing policy. This paper explains the policymaking process during the formulation of safe delivery incentive program, a conditional cash transfer program in Nepal using Kindgon's multiple streams framework. Analysis of earlier policies and programs around safe motherhood concludes that high transportation cost was a major cause for poor utilization of institutional obstetric care, despite being provided at free of cost. Health was recognized as fundamental constitutional right in 2007. This assured societal support and political commitments for protecting health constitutionally. Furthermore, there was commitment from external development partners (EDPs) for investment in maternal health. Together, these problem, policy, and politics opened Kingdon's “windows of opportunity” for formulation of conditional cash transfer policy. This paper presents evolution of Aama Surakshya Karyakram and uses Kingdon's multiple streams framework to explain how problem, policy, and politics streams converged together to allow this program to be introduced in Nepal.