Work

Data and Code for "Turbocharging Profits? Contract Gaming and Revenue Allocation in Healthcare"

Year: 2026

Type: dataset

Abstract: Code and publicly available data to replicate "Turbocharging Profits? Contract Gaming and Revenue Allocation in Healthcare". Abstract: Firms often exploit weaknesses in government contracts to boost revenues, yet little is known about how they allocate these funds. We study how hospitals allocated $3 billion obtained from gaming a Medicare loophole. The average gaming hospital increased Medicare and total revenue by around 10%, implying large spillovers on other payers. Nonprofit hospitals deployed most funds toward operating costs. For-profits--driven by a large chain--deducted funds off their balance sheets, distributing them to executives and shareholders. Accordingly, we detect reductions in mortality only at nonprofits. Our results imply that the consequences of engineered windfalls vary substantially by hospital ownership.

Source: ICPSR Data Holdings

DOI: 10.3886/e232602

Authors: Gupta, Atul, La Forgia, Ambar, Sacarny, Adam

Institutions: University of Pennsylvania, University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University

Language: English

Topic: Healthcare Policy and Management

Subfield: Economics and Econometrics

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute on Aging

OpenAlex ID: W7143363324

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