This project will study year-to-year variation in Medicare inpatient costs within rural hospitals, with a special focus on factors affecting unit costs in low-volume providers. We propose to analyze panel data constructed from eight years of Medicare hospital files, covering reports filed for all general, short-stay facilities with fiscal years beginning between October 1989 through September 1998. We believe that the proposed longitudinal study design could offer substantial improvement in our understanding of the rural hospital cost factions, which will help to evaluate the many options for payment relief and to target the most appropriate PPS reforms to the most appropriate rural providers.

Publications

• Unpredictable Demand and Low-Volume Hospitals
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 01/2003
  This findings brief assesses the degree to which the annual number of patient discharges varies from year to year for low-volume hospitals.
• Unstable Demand and Cost per Case in Low-Volume Hospitals
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 01/2003
  This findings brief looks at the effects of year-to-year changes in annual inpatient discharges on costs per Medicare discharge.