Description:

"Challenges to Regulatory Decentralization: Lessons from State Health Technology Regulation" by Jill Horwitz, Professor of Law and Professor of Health Policy & Management, University of Michigan 

This is part of the IPR Seminar Series on Performance Measurement and Rewards.

Abstract: Decentralized regulation is thought to better reflect the views of local residents and to encourage experimentation than centralized regulation. When a state’s regulatory choices affect other states, however, these benefits can be compromised. To examine the implications of such externalities, Horwitz and her colleagues consider the case of certificate of need laws (CON), state laws that require providers to obtain licenses before adopting various types of healthcare technology. In particular, they analyze the cross-border effects of these laws on the number and location of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) providers. The researchers find a large effect on the number and location of MRIs near borders between unregulated and regulated states. These results may help explain conflicting studies on whether and why CON regulation may have failed to control costs and quantity.