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The impact of technology diffusion in health care markets: Evidence from heart attack treatment

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  • Hentschker, Corinna
  • Wübker, Ansgar

Abstract

Medical technological progress has been shown to be the main driver of health care costs. A key policy question is whether new treatment options are worth the additional costs. In this paper we assess the causal effect of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), a major new heart attack treatment, on mortality. We use a full sample of administrative hospital data from Germany for the years 2005 to 2007. To account for non-random treatment assignment of PTCA, instrumental variable approaches are implemented that aim to randomize patients to different likelihoods of getting PTCA independent of heart attack severity. Instruments include differential distances to PTCA hospitals and regional PTCA rates. Our results suggest a 4.5 percentage point mortality reduction for patients who have access to this new treatment compared to patients receiving only conservative treatment. We relate mortality reduction to the additional costs for this treatment and conclude that this new treatment option is cost-effective in lowering mortality for AMI patients at reasonable cost-effectiveness thresholds.

Suggested Citation

  • Hentschker, Corinna & Wübker, Ansgar, 2016. "The impact of technology diffusion in health care markets: Evidence from heart attack treatment," Ruhr Economic Papers 632, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:632
    DOI: 10.4419/86788734
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    Cited by:

    1. Hentschker, Corinna, 2017. "From dusk till dawn - Are nights a dangerous time for hospital admissions?," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168056, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Beáta Gavurová & Antonio José Balloni & Miriama Tarhaničová & Viliam Kováč, 2018. "Information and Communication Technology in the Role of Information System of Healthcare Facility in the Slovak Republic," Economies, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-15, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    acute myocardial infarction; instrumental variables; mortality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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