The Impact of Organizational Boundaries on Health Care Coordination and Utilization

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
Year: 2023
Volume: 15
Issue: 3
Pages: 184-214

Authors (3)

Leila Agha (Dartmouth College) Keith Marzilli Ericson (not in RePEc) Xiaoxi Zhao (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We measure organizational concentration—the distribution of a patient's health care across organizations—to examine how firm boundaries affect health care efficiency. First, when patients move to regions where outpatient visits are typically concentrated within a small set of firms, their health care utilization falls. Second, for patients whose primary care providers (PCPs) exit the market, switching to a PCP with 1 standard deviation higher organizational concentration reduces utilization by 21 percent. This finding is robust to controlling for the spread of health care across providers. Increases in organizational concentration predict improvements in diabetes care and are not associated with greater use of emergency department or inpatient care.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejpol:v:15:y:2023:i:3:p:184-214
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-24