Analysis of hospital length of stay and discharge destination using hazard functions with unmeasured heterogeneity

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2003

Abstract

The hospital length-of-stay and the discharge destination of a Medicare patient are the outcomes of one decision process involving the interests of the patient, the hospital, and the firms offering covered post-hospital care. We use a competing risk hazard estimation procedure and adjust for unobserved heterogeneity with a non-parametric technique to identify significant factors in the decision process. A patient's health and socio-economic characteristics, the availability of informal care, local market area conditions, and Medicare policies influence length-of-stay and discharge destination. The substitution we find between hospital and post-hospital care and among post-hospital care alternatives has policy implications for Medicare. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Identifier

0346401605 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Health Economics

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.800

ISSN

10579230

PubMed ID

14673811

First Page

1021

Last Page

1034

Issue

12

Volume

12

Grant

R01AG009468

Fund Ref

National Institute on Aging

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