Convention wisdom has long held that hospitals make up for reimbursement shortfalls in government insurance and uncompensated care by shifting those costs to the privately insured. Two studies released this month indicate that this may no longer be the case, although they reach different conclusions about how hospitals are coping with the slowdown in Medicare and Medicaid financing. Rice University economist Vivian Ho and her colleagues looked at revenue by payer at Texas hospitals between 2000 and 2007. They concluded that hospitals have grown revenue by increased use of technology.
