CHAMP faculty Rebecca Staiger, along with co-authors, recently published the article "Physician Group Influences on Treatment Intensity and Health: Evidence from Physician Switchers". In an era where nearly one-fifth of the U.S. economy is spent on health care, understanding what drives these costs is urgent. This study explores how the growing trend of physicians working in groups influences their treatment decisions and, ultimately, Medicare spending. By analyzing internists who switch physician groups within the same hospital, the research finds that doctors quickly adopt the treatment...
The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion improved health care access for low-income Americans; however, its impact on economic outcomes—particularly income—is less clear. We used US Census administrative income data that tracked 6120 cohorts covering 84% of working-age adults from 2005 to 2019. Using difference-in-differences, we compared changes in income among low-income adults living in expansion states, before and after expansion, with changes in income in low-income adults living in non-expansion states. Low-income adults living in Medicaid-expansion states...
CHAMP trainee and PhD candidate Stacy Chen, in collaboration with CHAMP faculty Rebecca Staiger, explored how Medicaid expansion increased income of newly eligible adults in the 5 years following expansion. To do this, they used a differences and differences method to compare changes in income among low-income adults living in expansion states, before and after expansion, with changes in income in low-income adults living in non-expansion states. They found that low-income adults living in Medicaid-expansion states experienced an average 9.5% relative increase in income in the...
CHAMP faculty Rebecca Staiger's recent article titled "Obstetrician and Gynecologist Physicians’ Practice Locations Before and After the Dobbs Decision" sought to investigate if practice locations of obstetricians and gynecologists (OBGYNs) have changed since the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization US Supreme Court decision in June 2022. In this cohort study of 60,085 OBGYNs, the number of OBGYNs did not significantly change across policy environments, increasing by 8.3% in states where abortion is banned, 10.5% in states where it is threatened, and 7.7% in...
ImportanceState abortion policies may influence the practice locations of obstetricians and gynecologists (OBGYNs), having potentially significant implications for access to and quality of reproductive health care.
ObjectiveTo explore changes in OBGYN practice locations from before to after the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization US Supreme Court decision in June 2022.
Design, Setting, and ParticipantsNational Plan & Provider Enumeration System data files were used in a...
Treatment intensity varies remarkably across physicians, yet key drivers of this variation are not well understood. Meanwhile, physicians are increasingly working in groups that may influence how they practice. This paper tests whether physicians' group affiliation matters for practice styles and patient health. Using Medicare inpatient claims data, we compare these outcomes before and after physicians switch between groups of varying treatment intensity while remaining in the same hospital to control for practice setting. Event studies show that internists who join groups with higher...
The patient-provider relationship is considered a cornerstone to delivering high-value healthcare. However, in Medicaid managed care settings, disruptions to this relationship are disproportionately common. In this paper, I evaluate the impact of a primary provider’s exit from a Medicaid managed care plan on adult beneficiary healthcare utilization and outcomes. Using an event study approach, I estimate a 5% decrease in the number of beneficiaries with primary care visits in the year following the exit, with slightly larger effects in terms of percentage points for...
Public disability programs provide financial support to 12 million working-age individuals per year, though not all eligible individuals take up these programs. Mixed evidence exists regarding the impact of Medicaid eligibility expansion on program take-up, and even less is known about the relationship between Medicaid expansion and racial and ethnic disparities in take-up. Using 2009–2020 Current Population Survey data, we compare changes in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) take-up among respondents with disabilities living in...
