Economics Commons^™

Moving The Needle: How Transparency Could Lower Costs And Improve Quality In United States Hospitals, Anna "Nina" Russell

Harvey M. Applebaum ’59 Award

This thesis shows the limitations of price and quality information for improving the value of healthcare delivery in the United States. First, in four survey experiments to determine the impact of information on decision-making, consumers were more likely to choose the lower cost or higher quality option when relevant information was presented in straightforward ways with a minimized risk of information overload (n = 224, t = -3.7065, p = 0.0002). Second, hospitals on the U.S. News Best Hospital list between 2008 and 2011 were shown to be significantly more likely to be found in wealthy, highly populated areas, while …