Management Papers

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of this Version

2013

Publication Source

Journal of Economics & Management Strategy

Volume

22

Issue

3

Start Page

617

Last Page

639

DOI

10.1111/jems.12023

Abstract

Using the universe of patient transitions from inpatient hospital care to skilled nursing facilities and home health care in 2005, we show how integration eliminates task misallocation problems between organizations. We find that vertical integration allows hospitals to shift patient recovery tasks downstream to lower-cost organizations by discharging patients earlier (and in poorer health) and increasing post-hospitalization service intensity. Although integration facilitates a shift in the allocation of tasks and resources, health outcomes either improved or were unaffected by integration on average. The evidence suggests that integration solves coordination problems that arise in market exchange through improvements in the allocation of tasks across care settings.

Copyright/Permission Statement

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: David, G., Rawley, E. and Polsky, D. (2013), Integration and Task Allocation: Evidence from Patient Care. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 22: 617–639., which has been published in final form at doi: 10.1111/jems.12023. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-820227.html#terms.

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Date Posted: 27 November 2017

This document has been peer reviewed.