Volpp K, Williams S, Waldfogel J, Silber J, Schwartz J and Pauly M, (2003)

‘Market Reform in New Jersey and the Effect on Mortality from Acute Myocardial Infarction’

Health Services Research, 38: 509-527

• Empirical analysis of the effect of the introduction of price competition in New Jersey on AMI mortality.
• Examines the period before & after implementation of the Health Care Reform Act (1994), which reduced subsidies for hospital care for the uninsured and changed hospital payment to price competition from a rate-setting system based on hospital cost.

Key results:

• The introduction of hospital price competition and reductions in subsidies for hospital care of the uninsured were associated with an increase in AMI mortality from 41 to 57 percent among uninsured New Jersey patients.
• A relative decrease in the use of cardiac procedures in New Jersey may partly explain this finding.

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