@article{camilleri_diebold_2019, title={Hospital uncompensated care and patient experience: An instrumental variable approach}, volume={54}, ISSN={["1475-6773"]}, DOI={10.1111/1475-6773.13111}, abstractNote={ObjectiveExamine the endogenous relationship between uncompensated care and hospital patient experience scores.Data Sources/Study SettingThe Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey, CMS Healthcare Cost Report Information System, and the US Census Bureau.Study DesignThe exogenous change in uncompensated care caused by the 2014 Medicaid expansion was exploited to measure the effect of uncompensated care on patient experience scores using a 2SLS regression with instrumental variables approach.Data Collection/Extraction MethodsU.S. general, short‐term hospitals whose DSH status remained constant and had nonmissing data for 2011‐2015, which totaled 969 unique hospitals per year.Principal FindingsThe effect of uncompensated care on patient experience was in the predicted direction, with three of the 10 measures being statistically significant. A one percentage point increase in uncompensated care costs resulted in a 0.25‐0.50 percentage point decrease in select patient experience scores.ConclusionsResults indicate a weak relationship between uncompensated care and patient experience scores, as a reduction in uncompensated care is related to quality improvement for some hospitals. These findings have implications for hospitals as they navigate changing reimbursement structures and policy makers considering changes to Obama‐era health care reforms.}, number={3}, journal={HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH}, author={Camilleri, Susan and Diebold, Jeffrey}, year={2019}, month={Jun}, pages={603–612} } @article{diebold_camilleri_2018, title={An experimental analysis of modifications to the survivor benefit information within the Social Security statement}, volume={19}, ISSN={1474-7472 1475-3022}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1474747218000082}, DOI={10.1017/S1474747218000082}, abstractNote={AbstractThe Social Security Statement is the primary resource most workers prefer to use to learn about their Social Security benefits. The Social Security Administration periodically mails this and supporting documents to all workers to help them make informed decisions about when to start receiving their benefits. Understandably, the Statement provides detailed information about the worker's retirement benefit. However, these documents contain remarkably little information about the survivor benefit despite the financial importance of this particular auxiliary benefit to the widows of deceased workers in widowhood. We analyze the effect of modifications to the survivor benefit information in the Statement on benefit knowledge and expected claiming behavior of married men using an experimental survey of workers. The results provide evidence that the augmentation of this information can temporarily improve benefit knowledge and influence expected claim ages.}, number={1}, journal={Journal of Pension Economics and Finance}, publisher={Cambridge University Press (CUP)}, author={Diebold, Jeffrey and Camilleri, Susan}, year={2018}, month={Mar}, pages={21–48} } @article{diebold_coggburn_2018, title={The Determinants and Opportunity Costs of External Management Fees for State-Administered Pension Plans}, volume={38}, ISSN={["1540-5850"]}, url={http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85052823056&partnerID=MN8TOARS}, DOI={10.1111/pbaf.12207}, abstractNote={Private investment firms receive billions of dollars in fees to actively manage the assets held within state pension funds. We examine the determinants of the fees paid and find that more financially burdensome plans tend to pay more. The magnitude of this relationship declines as the size of the plan increases, suggesting economies of scale. These fees do not appear to be associated with higher pension fund returns. Finally, we calculate the opportunity costs of fees and estimate that most pension funds would be better financially positioned today if they had, instead, passively invested the fees in broad‐based market indices.}, number={4}, journal={PUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE}, publisher={Wiley}, author={Diebold, Jeffrey and Coggburn, Jerrell D.}, year={2018}, month={Dec}, pages={3–31} } @article{diebold_reitano_mcdonald_2018, title={SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF: STRATEGIC SELECTION OF PENSION POLICIES USED TO DEFER REQUIRED CONTRIBUTIONS}, volume={36}, ISSN={["1465-7287"]}, DOI={10.1111/coep.12236}, abstractNote={The administrators of state‐sponsored defined benefit public pension plans have considerable discretion to determine the accounting and actuarial parameters used to calculate the normal cost contributions and amortization payments that, together, comprise the sponsoring state's annual required contribution amount. Using longitudinal data from the Public Pension Database and a fixed effects approach, we find evidence that suggests plan administrators decisions about cost and amortization methods are influenced by the normal cost and amortization payments, respectively. When these costs increase, administrators tend to use less prudent methods that defer, or keep low, the pension contributions required from the state while, simultaneously, and perversely, improving the appearance of the plan's funded status and the state's funding discipline. (JEL H75)}, number={3}, journal={CONTEMPORARY ECONOMIC POLICY}, publisher={Wiley-Blackwell}, author={Diebold, Jeffrey and Reitano, Vincent and McDonald, Bruce}, year={2018}, month={Jul}, pages={505–525} } @article{stewart_diebold_2017, title={Turnover at the Top: Investigating Performance-Turnover Sensitivity among Nonprofit Organizations}, volume={40}, ISSN={["1557-9271"]}, DOI={10.1080/15309576.2017.1340900}, abstractNote={ABSTRACT Research has confirmed private firm performance as a predictor of executive turnover, but whether this relationship holds in other organizational contexts—especially those operating without a profit-distribution requirement—is not known. For nonprofit organizations, performance monitoring and governance largely occur behind closed doors under the leadership of a volunteer board of directors. Nonprofits are commonly criticized as inefficient, even ineffective, and the accountability of boards and executives for organizational performance has not been sufficiently investigated. This article engages a unique dataset of 998 U.S.-based nonprofits serving missions related to the arts, health, and human services, and uses a multiple-spell discrete-time hazard model to evaluate nonprofit financial performance and the likelihood of executive turnover. The findings provide preliminary support that tenure in the executive office is sensitive to nonprofit financial performance, and in doing so, they raise new insights about the accountability of nonprofit executives.}, number={4}, journal={PUBLIC PERFORMANCE & MANAGEMENT REVIEW}, author={Stewart, Amanda J. and Diebold, Jeffrey}, year={2017}, pages={741–764} } @article{diebold_moulton_scott_2017, title={Early claiming of higher-earning husbands, the survivor benefit, and the incidence of poverty among recent widows}, volume={16}, ISSN={["1475-3022"]}, DOI={10.1017/s1474747215000438}, abstractNote={AbstractSocial Security provides survivor benefits to lower-earning spouses of deceased workers entitled to a retirement benefit. The value of the survivor benefit depends on a number of factors including the deceased worker's claim age. We use the Health and Retirement Study and a discrete time hazard model to analyze how the claim age of married men influences the likelihood that their spouse will enter poverty in widowhood. We find that delayed claiming is associated with reduction in a widow's poverty risk. The magnitude of this relationship varies significantly with the claim age, Social Security dependence, and survivor benefit dependence.}, number={4}, journal={JOURNAL OF PENSION ECONOMICS & FINANCE}, author={Diebold, Jeffrey and Moulton, Jeremy and Scott, John}, year={2017}, month={Oct}, pages={485–508} } @article{diebold_2018, title={The Effects of Medicare Part D on Health Outcomes of Newly Covered Medicare Beneficiaries}, volume={73}, ISSN={["1758-5368"]}, DOI={10.1093/geronb/gbw030}, abstractNote={Objectives To estimate the impact of Medicare Part D on cost-related prescription nonadherence and health outcomes among the newly covered medicare beneficiaries. Method Difference-in-differences analyses of data from a balanced panel of Medicare beneficiaries observed in each wave of the Health and Retirement Study from 2000 to 2010 were carried out. The differences in the pre- and post-Part D changes in these outcomes are calculated for previously uncovered Part D enrollees and a comparison group of previously covered Medicare beneficiaries. Results The results from this analysis indicate that Part D reduced cost-related nonadherence rates among the newly covered by 7 percentage points and that this decline was sustained through 2010. Part D was also associated with a 5 percentage points increase in the likelihood that a newly covered enrollee reported to be in good or better health and a 4-percentage point decline in the likelihood of being diagnosed with high blood pressure. These improvements were also sustained through 2010 but were only evident among those newly covered beneficiaries who remained enrolled in a Part D plan through 2010. However, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that Part D improved the blood pressure of newly covered, hypertensive beneficiaries. Discussion Part D has had a sustained impact on cost-related nonadherence rates and the health status of newly covered beneficiaries. However, the change in health status is conditional on remaining enrolled in a Part D plan over time.}, number={5}, journal={JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES B-PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES}, author={Diebold, Jeffrey}, year={2018}, month={Jul}, pages={890–900} }