@techreport{NBERw15309,
 title = "Estimating Heterogeneity in the Benefits of Medical Treatment Intensity",
 author = "William N. Evans and Craig L. Garthwaite",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "15309",
 year = "2009",
 month = "September",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w15309",
 abstract = {Federal and state laws passed in the late 1990 increased considerably postpartum stays for newborns.  Using all births in California over the 1995-2001 period, 2SLS estimates suggest that for the average newborn impacted by the law, increased treatment intensity had modest and statistically insignificant (p-value>0.05) impacts on readmission probabilities.  Allowing the treatment effect to vary by pre-existing conditions or the pre-law propensity score of being discharged early, two objective measures of medical need, demonstrates that the law had large and statistically significant impacts for those with the greatest likelihood of a readmission.  These results demonstrate heterogeneity in the returns to greater treatment intensity, and the returns to the average and marginal patient vary considerably.},
}