Can public report cards affect consumer’s private learning of quality? An evaluation of the impact of Florida hospital report cards on acute myocardial infarction patient admission patterns

Abstract

The empirical literature on hospital report cards typically assumes that report card cannot interact with consumer’s private learning. This study examines the impact of the implementation of FL hospital quality reporting system in late 2004 on hospital admission patterns using a pre-post difference-in-difference design. The estimation model allows for the possibility that report-card learning may interact with non-report-card learning. The study sample is comprised of all patients admitted to any FL hospital between 2000 and 2008 with a principal diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We find that hospital admission patterns for AMI patients did not respond to report card information. However, we find evidence consistent with the possibility that the implementation of a report card system may stimulate consumers (either patients or physicians) to seek higher quality hospitals through private information ch annels.