TY  - JOUR
AU  - Chernew,Michael
AU  - Gowrisankaran,Gautam
AU  - McLaughlin,Catherine
AU  - Gibson,Teresa
TI  - Quality and Employers' Choice of Health Plan
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 9847
PY  - 2003
Y2  - July 2003
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9847
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w9847.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Michael Chernew
Harvard Medical School
Dept. of Health Care Policy
180 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA  02115
Tel: 617/432-0174
Fax: 617/432-2648
E-Mail: chernew@hcp.med.harvard.edu

Gautam Gowrisankaran
Professor of Economics
Department of Economics
University of Arizona
P.O. Box 210108
Tucson, AZ 85721-0108
Tel: 520/621-2529
Fax: 520/621-8450
E-Mail: gowrisankaran@eller.arizona.edu

Catherine McLaughlin
Health Management and Policy
School of Public Health
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1234
Tel: 734/764-9335
Fax: 734/764-4338
E-Mail: cmcl@umich.edu
AB  - We seek to understand the relationship between employer decisions regarding which health plans firms choose to offer to their employees and the performance of those plans. We measure performance using data from the Health Plan Employer Data Information Set (HEDIS) and the Consumer Assessment of Health Plan Survey (CAHPS). We use a unique data set that lists the Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) available to, and offered by, large employers across markets in the year 2000, and examine the relationship between plan offerings, performance measures and other plan characteristics. We estimate two sets of specifications that differ in whether they model plan choice as a function of absolute plan performance or plan performance relative to competitors. We find that employers are more likely to offer plans with strong absolute and relative HEDIS and CAHPS performance measures. Our results are consistent with the view that large employers are responsive to the interests of their employees.
ER  -