I can email the spreadsheet, I'm not sure how to attach it to this?

Open the Excel spreadsheet heart_attacks.xls. It has details related to the average prices thathospitalschargedin 2017forpatientscovered byMedicare(i.e., mainlypeople aged65+)whent reatedforheart attacksas hospital inpatients.

Beforeanswering thequestionsbelow,chooseonehealthcaremarketwithatleast4hospitalsinit (using the heading "market"). It shows the state code and the main city for that healthcaremarket,soyoumightchooseaplaceyouarefromorfamiliar withorinterestedin(Ihavedeletedlarge cities fromthis datasetas they havetoo manyhospitals).Do notchooseAnchorage.

Pleaseanswer thefollowingquestions:[Graded outof30points]

1. Whatisthenameofthe market?[1point]

1. What is the ratio of the highest average price and the lowest average price in this market(use "average_payment")? What does that mean about the size of the differences in thepricespaid forheart attack treatment?[2points]

1. Foryourmarket,pleasecalculatethe:[3points]
   1. Numberofhospitals

1. Pricepaidforheartattacktreatmentaveraged acrossthehospitalsinthemarket

1. Averagenumberofpatientstreatedforheart attacks(use"number_of_patients")

1. Assessingifthereare economiesofscaleintreatingheart attacks:[4points]
   1. Whatdoyouexpecttherelationshiptobebetween thenumberofpatientstreated andtheaverage price?

1. Doestherelationshipbetweenthenumberofpatientstreatedandtheaverageprice match this expectation? (E.g., graph "number_of_patients" on the x-axis and"average_payment"onthe y-axisand reportthedirectionoftherelationship.)

1. Ifhospitalscompete withotherhospitalsintheirmarket:[4points]
   1. Whatdoyouexpecttherelationshiptobebetweenthenumberofhospitalsinthemarketand averageprice paid forheart attacktreatment?

1. Compareyourmarkettotheaveragemarketinthisdataset.Dothedifferencesinaverage price match the expected relationship in (a)? Use the followinginformationforthemarket averages inthedataset:
   • Averagenumberofhospitalsin amarket:5.5
   • Averagepricepaidforheartattachtreatment:$10,238

1. Search for information about the hospitals in your market in order to understand whatelse might contribute to price differences? (E.g., ownership structure, hospital expertise,locationofhospitalstoeachother,healthanddemographiccharacteristicsofthepatientsserved, including the fraction with insurance coverage.) Could that help explain youranswers to questions 4 and 5? How else may these factors affect the prices that hospitalscharge? [7points]

Note: You should spend a substantial amount of your time on this part, as that willprovidekeyinsights intopotential pricedeterminants inyour market.

1. If you had price data on knee replacements, should you see the same price patterns? Whyorwhynot?[3 points]

1. WeusedatafromMedicareprices.Yetthepricespaidforhospitalservicesvariesalotacrossdifferent groups(e.g.,Medicare,privateinsurers,uninsuredpatients).[6points]
   1. Why might Medicare be able to pay less on average than private insurers andindividualspayingforthemselves?

1. Why might prices decrease with greater transparency around the prices paid bydifferentgroups?

1. Why might prices not decrease with greater transparency around the prices paidbydifferentgroups?

ResourcesforQuestion8:

https://truecostofhealthcare.org/hospitalization/[this helps to understand hospital bills]https://www.rand.org/news/press/2020/09/18.html

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/07/02/1012317032/hospitals-have-started-posting-their-prices-online-heres-what-they-revealhttps://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/early-results-from-federal-price-transparency-rule-show-difficultly-in-estimating-the-cost-of-care/

Additionalguidance:

• Pleaseremember:
  • Youneedto explainall keyconcepts
  • Donot useanyjargonoracronyms
  • It should be a self-contained document - the reader should not have to refer tootherdocuments in orderto understand it
• Useeconomicconceptsto evaluatethesepolicyissues.
• Youshouldtakeaccountofdiscussion andmaterialsin thetextbook andinclass.
• Limit yourdiscussionto2-4typedpages (double-spaced). Youcan addafigureortwoifyouthink it is helpful, but it is not required.
• Listanyreferencesthatyouuse,includinglinkstokeyinformationontheinternet.
• Youshould spendsometimeon part6 and part8.