The relationship between service intensity and the quality of health care: an exploratory data analysis

This paper provides an empirical check of some assumptions used to define the quality of care in the health services literature. Specifically, we test (i) whether service intensity is the only important determinant of a provider's quality and (ii) whether higher service intensity always causes higher quality. Using a panel of hospitals from Washington State, we find evidence that rejects both of these assumptions. As a result, further work is needed to postulate a more general definition that does not rely on these assumptions.