What Can We Learn about Hospitals from the Revealed Preferences of Patients?

Dana Goldman, RAND and National Bureau of Economic Research
John A. Romley, RAND and Occidental College

Abstract

In choosing their hospital, patients are concerned with both quality of care and amenities such as comfortable rooms. This column summarises recent research showing that patients value amenities and more productive hospitals compete for patients by supplying higher quality. We need to assess the value of amenities in relation to other hospital benefits, since improving amenities is more costly than improving care.