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Biosketch:
Dr. Lindrooth is a health economist whose recent research has focused
on the economics of inpatient hospital care and mental health services
delivery. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Administration
and Policy at the Medical University of South Carolina. He is also Associate
Director of the Center for Health Economic and Policy Studies. Dr. Lindrooth
received his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Washington in 1998.
Prior to joining the MUSC faculty he was a faculty member at Northwestern
University. Dr. Lindrooth's current research portfolio includes a project
funded by AHRQ that aims to measure: the effect of entry into specialized
cardiac care on general hospitals; the effect of closing labor and delivery
units; and how emergency departments affect the viability of general hospitals.
In addition, he is beginning a project funded by NIMH which will examine
the precursors and impacts of changes in acute care inpatient psychiatric
care capacity. His published research papers include studies of hospital
markets and costs; the behavior of for-profit and not-for-profit hospices;
the effect government policies on the financial viability of health care
providers; the economics of mental health service delivery; and the effect
of peer influence on substance use. He has published over 30 papers in
a variety of economics and health services research journals including:
Economic Inquiry, Health Affairs, Health Economics, Health Services Research,
Inquiry, Journal of Health Economics, and Southern Economic Journal.
Abstract:
We present a new framework for assessing the effects of hospital closures
on social welfare and the local economy. While patient welfare necessarily
declines when patients lose access to a hospital, closures also tend
to reduce costs. We study five hospital closures in two states and find
that urban hospital bailouts reduce aggregate social welfare: on balance
the cost savings from closures more than offset the reduction in patient
welfare. However, because some of the cost savings are shared nationally,
total surplus in the local community may decline following a hospital
closure.
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