Healthcare Economist May 24, 2024
The answer is ‘yes’ from a paper by Lin et al. (2024). Using 2009-2013 data from the Massachusetts All-Payer Claims Database, the authors measured physician–hospital integration within an accountable care organization (ACO) based on the proportion of primary care physicians (PCPs) in an ACO who billed for outpatient services with a place-of-service code indicating that there were employed by a hospital or the practice was owned by a hospital. The mapping of Massachusetts physicians and hospitals to ACOs came from the Massachusetts Registration of Provider Organizations (MA-PRO) data.
Patients who seek care at more integrated ACOs may differ from those who prefer less integrated ACOs. To address this concern, the authors used an instrumental variable method,...