Volume 8, Number 1 (Winter) 1973
Russell, Louise B. 1973. "The Impact of the Extended-Care Facility Benefit on Hospital Use and Reimbursements Under Medicare." Journal of Human Resources 8(1):57-72.
The coverage of extended-care facilities (ECFs) under Medicare was intended as a means of shortening patient stays in short-term hospitals and reducing the overall costs of the program. Regression analysis of state data on the average hospital stay for Medicare patients in 1967 and 1968 shows that the use of ECFs has, in fact, contributed to shorter stays. Further, the savings in hospital reimbursements, estimate from the regressions, more than outweighed the costs of the ECF care in both years.
The author is Staff Economist, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Evaluation, and Research, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington. The author would like to thank Victor Fuchs, Douglas Wilson, Karen Davis, Dorothy Rice, and Wayne Vroman for helpful comments.
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