Hospital ownership and cost and quality of care: is there a dime's worth of difference?

Nonprofit organizations may predominate when output quality is difficult to monitor. Hospital care has this characteristic. This study compared progra m cost and quality of care for Medicare patients hospitalized following ons et of four common conditions by hospital ownership. Payments on behalf of M edicare patients admitted to for-profit hospitals during the first 6 months following a health shock were higher than for those admitted to other hosp itals. With quality measured in terms of survival, changes in functional an d cognitive status, and living arrangements, we found no differences in out comes by hospital ownership. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese rved. JEL classification: I1; L3; L8.