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The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Policy Response on Health Care Utilization: Evidence from County-level Medical Claims and Cellphone data

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Listed:
  • Jonathan H. Cantor
  • Neeraj Sood
  • Dena Bravata
  • Megan Pera
  • Christopher M. Whaley
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced federal, state and local policymakers to respond by legislating, enacting, and enforcing social distancing policies. However, the impact of these policies on healthcare utilization in the United States has been largely unexplored. We examine the impact of county-level shelter in place ordinances on healthcare utilization using two unique datasets—employer-sponsored insurance for over 6 million people in the US and cell phone location data. We find that introduction of these policies was associated with reductions in the use of preventive care, elective care, and the number of weekly visits to physician offices and hospitals. However, controlling for county-level exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic reduces the impact of these policies. Our results imply that while social distancing policies do lead to reductions in healthcare utilization, much of these reductions would have occurred even in the absence of these policies.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan H. Cantor & Neeraj Sood & Dena Bravata & Megan Pera & Christopher M. Whaley, 2020. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Policy Response on Health Care Utilization: Evidence from County-level Medical Claims and Cellphone data," NBER Working Papers 28131, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28131
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    As found on the RePEc Biblio, the curated bibliography for Economics:
    1. > Economics of Welfare > Health Economics > Economics of Pandemics > Specific pandemics > Covid-19 > Health > Allocation and rationing

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    1. Fu, Hongqiao & Cheng, Terence C. & Zhan, Jiajia & Xu, Duo & Yip, Winnie, 2024. "Dynamic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the demand for telemedicine services: Evidence from China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 531-557.
    2. Péter Elek & Anikó Bíró & Petra Fadgyas‐Freyler, 2021. "Income gradient of pharmaceutical panic buying at the outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(9), pages 2312-2320, September.
    3. Erkmen G. Aslim & Wei Fu & Chia-Lun Liu & Erdal Tekin, 2022. "Vaccination Policy, Delayed Care, and Health Expenditures," NBER Working Papers 30139, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Virat Agrawal & Jonathan H. Cantor & Neeraj Sood & Christopher M. Whaley, 2021. "The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Policy Responses on Excess Mortality," NBER Working Papers 28930, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Cronin, Christopher J. & Evans, William N., 2022. "Nursing home quality, COVID-19 deaths, and excess mortality," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    6. Kattih, Nour & Mansour, Fady, 2024. "The impact of the COVID pandemic on health, healthcare utilization, and healthcare spending," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2).
    7. Dena Bravata & Jonathan H. Cantor & Neeraj Sood & Christopher M. Whaley, 2021. "Back to School: The Effect of School Visits During COVID-19 on COVID-19 Transmission," NBER Working Papers 28645, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Wolfgang Frimmel & Gerald J. Pruckner, 2024. "The COVID-19 pandemic and health care utilization: Evidence from Austrian register data," Economics working papers 2024-03, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    9. Rebucci, Alessandro & Bai, Ge & Jiménez, Daniel & Phan, Phillip & , & Sun, Xian, 2021. "The Financial Fragility of For-profit Hospitals: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic," CEPR Discussion Papers 16650, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Anneliese N. Luck & Irma T. Elo & Samuel H. Preston & Eugenio Paglino & Katherine Hempstead & Andrew C. Stokes, 2023. "COVID-19 and All-Cause Mortality by Race, Ethnicity, and Age Across Five Periods of the Pandemic in the United States," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(4), pages 1-29, August.
    11. Feng Huang & Hong Liu, 2023. "The impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic and related policy responses on non‐COVID‐19 healthcare utilization in China," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 620-638, March.
    12. Chen, Zhuo & Li, Pengfei & Liao, Li & Liu, Lu & Wang, Zhengwei, 2024. "Assessing and addressing the coronavirus-induced economic crisis: Evidence from 1.5 billion sales invoices," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    13. Lauren Gilbert & Susan Parker & Lauren Schechter, 2024. "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on treatment for domestic violence injuries: evidence from medical claims," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 535-562, June.
    14. Monteic A. Sizer & Dependra Bhatta & Binod Acharya & Krishna P. Paudel, 2022. "Determinants of Telehealth Service Use among Mental Health Patients: A Case of Rural Louisiana," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-11, June.
    15. Bryan C. McCannon & Mark Wilson, 2023. "Mask Mandates Increased COVID-19 Deaths in Kansas," Journal of Private Enterprise, The Association of Private Enterprise Education, vol. 38(Winter 20), pages 29-54.
    16. Shooshan Danagoulian & Thomas A. Wilk, 2022. "Locking out prevention: Dental care in the midst of a pandemic," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(9), pages 1973-1992, September.
    17. Yu shin Park & Soo Young Kim & Eun-Cheol Park & Sung-In Jang, 2022. "Screening for Diabetes Complications during the COVID-19 Outbreak in South Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-12, April.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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