TY  - JOUR
AU  - Salkever,David S.
TI  - Cost Implications of Hospital Unionization: A Behavioral Analysis
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 946
PY  - 1985
Y2  - March 1985
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w0946
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w0946.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
David S. Salkever
UMBC
Department of Public Policy
1000 Hilltop Circle, Public Policy 418
Baltimore, MD  21250
Tel: 410/455-8459
Fax: 410-455-8066
E-Mail: salkever@umbc.edu
AB  - The growth of unionization among hospital workers was sharply accelerated by the 1974 amendments to the NLRA covering voluntary hospital workers. With continuing inflationary pressures in the hospital sector, the cost implications of the recent and projected growth of hospital unions is of some concern to policy-makers . This paper presents estimates of union cost impacts based on data from hospitals in the states of Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania. Cross-sectional regressions with data for 1975 yield positive union impacts of 3.3 percent on total costs, 4.1 to 5.9 percent on cost per case, and 6.1 percent on cost per day. Re-estimation of the model with data on changes over the 1971 -75 period yields similar results. We also find that the cost impact of unionization varies with the pattern of coverage (being lower for service employees and RN's) and with the extent of cost-based reimbursement. This suggests that future cost impacts of union growth may be moderated as prospective payment systems for hospital s become more widespread.
ER  -