Are For-Profit Hospital Conversions Harmful to Patients and to Medicare?
研究医院转为营利性所有制后，患者死亡率上升、人员减少、利润增加，但质量下降在1-2年后减弱；转为非营利或政府所有则无此现象。
We examine how changes in hospital ownership to and from for-profit status affect quality and Medicare payments per hospital stay. We hypothesize that hospitals converting to for-profit ownership boost post acquisition profitability by reducing dimensions of quality not readily observed by patients and by raising prices. We find that 1-2 years after conversion to for-profit status, mortality of patients, which is difficult for outsiders to monitor, increases while hospital profitability rises markedly and staffing decreases. Thereafter, the decline in quality is much lower. A similar decline in quality is not observed after hospitals switch from for-profit to government or private nonprofit status.