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The Effect of Certificate of Need Laws on All-Cause Mortality
1Department of Economics and Finance, Heider College of Business of Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA.
Objective:
To test how Certificate of Need laws affect all-cause mortality in the United States.
Data Sources:
The data of 1992-2011 all-cause mortality are from the Center for Disease Control's Compressed Mortality File; control variables are from the Current Population Survey, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and Area Health Resources File; and data on Certificate of Need laws are from Stratmann and Russ ().
Study Design:
Using fixed- and random-effects regressions, I test how the scope of state Certificate of Need laws affects all-cause mortality within US counties.
Principal Findings:
Certificate of Need laws have no statistically significant effect on all-cause mortality. Point estimates indicate that if they have any effect, they are more likely to increase mortality than decrease it.
Conclusions:
Proponents of Certificate of Need laws have claimed that they reduce mortality by concentrating more care into fewer, larger facilities that engage in learning-by-doing. However, I find no evidence that these laws reduce all-cause mortality.
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