Topic:Hospital response to discontinuity in prices of pediatricservices:Evidence from China

Lecturer: Jialin Huang

As the lecturer of Department of Risk Management and Insurance,School of Insurance,University of International Business and Economics,Ph.D.andpostdoc,National School of Development,Peking University.Her research interests cover health economics and medical insurance.Her research results have been published in many domestic and foreign journals such as Journal of Public Economics,China Economic Review,and World Economic and Financial Studies.

Abstarct:

This study examined how hospitals responded to discontinuity in the prices of pediatric services.In May 2018,the city of Guangzhou in southern China mandated price increases of 30% for 408 pediatric service items when children patients aged under 6.Prices for patients aged 6 and over,however,remained unchanged.By employing a regression discontinuity design and using case-level discharge data from public hospitals in Guangzhou,we examined how discontinuity in the prices of these pediatric service items affected health expenditures,treatment intensity,and readmission rate.We found that the higher service prices for children under 6 significantly increased expenditures on medical services per admission by 15.8%,but reduced drug expenditures by21.2%.Antibiotics expenditures also fell by31.8% at the same time.The reduction in drug expenditures nearly offset the increase in expenditures on medical services,resulting in statistically insignificant changes in total expenditures per admission.We also found nomeasurable changes in treatment intensity and readmission rate for children aged under 6.

Time: March 29,20249:00-10:15

Venue: B321,ZhixinBuilding,CentralCampus