NBER Working Papers by Gabriel Picone

This paper explores price differences in the European Union (EU) pharmaceutical market, the EU's fifth largest industry. With the aim of enhancing quality of life along with industry competitiveness and R&D capability, many EU directives have been adopted to achieve a single EU-wide pharmaceutical market. Using annual 1994–2003 data on prices of molecules that treat cardiovascular disease, we examine whether drug price dispersion has indeed decreased across five EU countries. Hedonic regressions show that over time, cross-country price differences between Germany and three of the four other EU sample countries, France, Italy and Spain, have declined, with relative prices in all three as well as the fourth country, UK, rising during the period. We interpret this as evidence that the EU ...

This study investigated whether the type of hospital in which a Medicare beneficiary is admitted for hip fracture, stroke, coronary heart disease, or congestive heart failure matters in terms of amount and timing of Medicare payments and survival. In total, government hospitals were the least expensive for Medicare, with major teaching hospitals being most expensive within 6 months of admission after the index even. Survival was best in major teaching hospitals. When considering payments subsequent to those for the initial hospitalization, Medicare spent more for patients admitted to for-profit hospitals than for those admitted to other non-teaching facilities survival. Payments on behalf of patients treated in for-profit hospitals were higher for Medicare Part B and home health, especi...

This paper compares cost and quality of care for Medicare patients hospitalized in for-profit hospitals contrasted with those in nonprofit and government hospitals following admission for hip fracture, stroke, coronary heart disease, or congestive heart failure. Cost of care in for-profit hospitals was similar to that of nonprofits, but patients admitted to government hospitals incurred less Medicare payments on average. There were only small differences in survival between for-profit, nonprofit, and government hospitals. Other measures of quality, including living in the community and activity of daily living limitations after index admission, show trivial differences by hospital ownership type. Between private sector hospital types (for-profit and nonprofit) there is indeed not a di...