Title: Essays on Public Outcomes Reporting and Technology Adoption in Health Care
Description: This dissertation consists of three essays on hospital-based healthcare delivery. The first essay examines the effect of public reporting of hospital-level surgical mortality rates on patient outcomes in the context of California's coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) report cards and the Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) population from 2004-2007. Compared to control states, I find that observed mortality rates in California improved by 12-19\% after the introduction of report cards with the effect relating to quality improvement in all areas of patient care, including initial care of acute patients, surgery characteristics, and postoperative care.