Health Care Administration and Fraud

October 2, 2026 — Cambridge, MA

The US spends twice as much on health care per capita as many other high-income countries. Administrative costs and fraud in public and private insurance programs contribute to this expenditure level, but do not contribute to health. Tools that are designed to identify and reduce administrative overhead and fraud can reduce costs, but they also have the potential to disrupt care and divert provider resources. 

The NBER Center for Aging and Health Research is planning a research meeting to explore the many ways in which care administration and fraud affect health outcomes. The conference, which is supported by the National Institute of Aging, will be organized by NBER affiliates Riley League (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) and Jetson Leder-Luis (Boston University). It will be held on Friday, October 2, 2026 in Cambridge, MA.

The organizers welcome submissions on any subject related to healthcare administration and fraud and from researchers who are not NBER affiliates and from those who are early in their careers. They hope to include perspectives from economics as well as other disciplines such as medicine, public health, and law. Topics of particular interest include:  

  • Anti-fraud policies and their impact on spending and care delivery
  • Administrative burdens on patients and providers
  • Supply responses to healthcare administrative procedures
  • Causes and consequences of claims processing delays and billing hassles, including variation across patient diagnoses and demographics
  • The role of contractors in administering federal health programs
  • The effects of monitoring on provider behavior and patient health

To be considered for presentation, submit papers or extended abstracts by 11:59pm ET on Friday, July 31, 2026. 

Authors chosen to present papers will be notified in late August 2026. 

Please share this call with others who may be interested in submitting a paper. Logistical questions about this meeting should be directed to confer@nber.org; other questions about meeting content should be directed to Sarah Holmes Berk at sholmes@nber.org.