Date of Award
2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Economics
First Advisor
Qi Ge
Abstract
This paper studies the effects of The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) and its impact on hospital reimbursements. Using Medicare data at the hospital level for fiscal years 2011 and 2015, this paper adds to current literature on the origin of Medicare policy changes through the use of nationwide hospital data, while including all 1,000 inpatient Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) definitions. The results from this paper suggest the emphasis that has been placed on delivering value over volume has effected hospital reimbursements. In 2011 a 1% increase in total discharges meant a 0.0213% increase in average total payments, while in 2015 the same 1% increase resulted in only a 0.00575% increase in average total payments. Also, I found that a 1% increase in average Medicare payments increased average total payments, by 0.911% and 0.939% for 2011 and 2015 respectively. So overall, treating less patients with greater emphasis placed on value became standard thanks to MACRA.
Recommended Citation
Timmons, Sean, "How Do Changes in Medicare, Specifically The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, Affect Hospital Reimbursement?" (2018). Economics Student Theses and Capstone Projects. 101.
https://creativematter.skidmore.edu/econ_studt_schol/101