CARE Seminar: Vivian Ho, Rice University

Speaker

Vivian Ho, Rice University

Title

"Hospital Consolidation and Rising Health Insurance Premiums: Recommendations for Policy and Employers"

Abstract

For the past 25 years, health insurance premiums have grown at almost three times the rate of workers’ earnings. This seminar discusses the role that hospital consolidation plays in rising healthcare costs. We will describe the nature of healthcare consolidation, the literature on its price effects, current data on price increases and hospital profits, and hospitals’ allocation of profits for charity care vs. system growth. We will also discuss evidence on the factors that motivate the behavior of nonprofit hospital CEOs. We will then discuss actions that large self-insured employers may be able to take to push back against the effects of consolidation, and the role that increased price transparency could play in addressing rising healthcare costs.

Biography

Vivian Ho, Ph.D., is the James A. Baker III Institute Chair in Health Economics, a professor in the Department of Economics at Rice University, a professor in the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and a nonresident Senior Scholar in the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Ho’s research examines the effects of economic incentives and regulations on the quality and costs of health care. Her research is widely published in economics, medical and health services research journals. Ho’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the American Cancer Society and Arnold Ventures.

Ho has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Health Statistics, as well as on the NIH Health Services, Outcomes and Delivery study section. She was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2020. Ho is also a founding board member of the American Society for Health Economists and a member of the Community Advisory Board at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. Ho received her A.B. in economics from Harvard University, a graduate diploma in economics from The Australian National University and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.