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Swamped: Emergency Department Crowding and Patient Mortality

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  • Woodworth, Lindsey

Abstract

U.S. emergency departments are experiencing extreme levels of crowding. This study estimates the impact of emergency department crowding on patient mortality. Identification relies on the abrupt crowding shocks felt by “old” emergency departments at the time a new emergency department opens nearby. Using death records linked to hospital administrative records, I find that a 10% alleviation of emergency department patient volume significantly lowers the average patient’s chance of mortality. Improvements appear to be realized both inside the hospital and after the patient has left.

Suggested Citation

  • Woodworth, Lindsey, 2020. "Swamped: Emergency Department Crowding and Patient Mortality," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:70:y:2020:i:c:s0167629618311676
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2019.102279
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jonathan Gruber & Thomas P. Hoe & George Stoye, 2023. "Saving Lives by Tying Hands: The Unexpected Effects of Constraining Health Care Providers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(1), pages 1-19, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Pinka Chatterji & Chun-Yu Ho & Xue Wu, 2024. "The Mortality Effects of Healthcare Consolidation: Evidence from Emergency Department Closures," NBER Working Papers 32189, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Maibom, Jonas & Sievertsen, Hans H. & Simonsen, Marianne & Wüst, Miriam, 2021. "Maternity ward crowding, procedure use, and child health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    3. Rachel Soloveichik, 2022. "Theoretical Inflation for Unavailable Products," BEA Working Papers 0193, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    4. Stephenson Strobel, 2023. "Waiting for Dr. Godot: how much and who responds to predicted health care wait times?," Papers 2309.13219, arXiv.org.
    5. Augustine Denteh & Helge Liebert, 2022. "Who Increases Emergency Department Use? New Insights from the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment," Papers 2201.07072, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2023.
    6. Hill, Andrew J. & Jones, Daniel B. & Woodworth, Lindsey, 2023. "Physician-patient race-match reduces patient mortality," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    7. Simon Bensnes, 2021. "Time to spare and too much care. Congestion and overtreatment at the maternity ward," Discussion Papers 963, Statistics Norway, Research Department.
    8. Strobel, Stephenson, 2024. "Who responds to longer wait times? The effects of predicted emergency wait times on the health and volume of patients who present for care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Emergency departments; Regression discontinuity; Mortality; Health;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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