TY - JOUR
T1 - Quality adjustment for health care spending on chronic disease
T2 - Evidence from diabetes treatment, 1999-2009
AU - Eggleston, Karen N.
AU - Shah, Nilay D.
AU - Smith, Steven A.
AU - Berndt, Ernst R.
AU - Newhouse, Joseph P.
PY - 2011/5
Y1 - 2011/5
N2 - Although US health care expenditures reached 17.6 percent of GDP in 2009, quality measurement in this important service sector remains limited. Studying quality changes associated with 11 years of health care for patients with diabetes, we find that the value of reduced mortality and avoided treatment spending, net of the increase in annual spending, was $9,094 for the average patient. These results suggest that the unit cost of diabetes treatment, adjusting for the value of health outcomes, has been roughly constant. Since input prices have not been declining, our results are consistent with productivity improvement in health care.
AB - Although US health care expenditures reached 17.6 percent of GDP in 2009, quality measurement in this important service sector remains limited. Studying quality changes associated with 11 years of health care for patients with diabetes, we find that the value of reduced mortality and avoided treatment spending, net of the increase in annual spending, was $9,094 for the average patient. These results suggest that the unit cost of diabetes treatment, adjusting for the value of health outcomes, has been roughly constant. Since input prices have not been declining, our results are consistent with productivity improvement in health care.
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U2 - 10.1257/aer.101.3.206
DO - 10.1257/aer.101.3.206
M3 - Article
C2 - 29517880
AN - SCOPUS:79958284366
SN - 0002-8282
VL - 101
SP - 206
EP - 211
JO - American Economic Review
JF - American Economic Review
IS - 3
ER -