The Effect of Certificate of Need Laws on All-Cause Mortality.

OBJECTIVE: To test how Certificate of Need laws affect all-cause mortality in the United States. DATA SOURCES: The data of 1992-2011 all-cause mortality are from the Center for Disease Control's Compressed Mortality File; control variables are from the Current Population Survey, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, and Area Health Resources File; and data on Certificate of Need laws are from Stratmann and Russ (). STUDY
DESIGN: Using fixed- and random-effects regressions, I test how the scope of state Certificate of Need laws affects all-cause mortality within US counties. PRINCIPAL
FINDINGS: Certificate of Need laws have no statistically significant effect on all-cause mortality. Point estimates indicate that if they have any effect, they are more likely to increase mortality than decrease it.
CONCLUSIONS: Proponents of Certificate of Need laws have claimed that they reduce mortality by concentrating more care into fewer, larger facilities that engage in learning-by-doing. However, I find no evidence that these laws reduce all-cause mortality. © Health Research and Educational Trust.