Scholars@Duke
M. Kate Bundorf

M. Kate Bundorf

J. Alexander McMahon Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management
Sanford School of Public Policy
Box 90312, Durham, NC 27708
278 Rubenstein Hall, Box 90312, Durham, NC 27708

Featured Works

The effects of medicare advantage on opioid use.

Journal article Journal of health economics · March 2020 Featured Publication Despite a vast literature on the determinants of prescription opioid use, the role of health insurance plans has received little attention. We study how the form of Medicare beneficiaries' drug coverage affects the volume of opioids they consume. We find t ... Full text Cite

ACA Medicaid Expansion Associated With Increased Medicaid Participation and Improved Health Among Near-Elderly: Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study.

Journal article Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing · January 2020 Featured Publication The Affordable Care Act (ACA) dramatically expanded health insurance, but questions remain regarding its effects on health. We focus on older adults for whom health insurance has greater potential to improve health and well-being because of their greater h ... Full text Cite

Machine-Based Expert Recommendations And Insurance Choices Among Medicare Part D Enrollees.

Journal article Health affairs (Project Hope) · March 2019 Featured Publication Choosing a health insurance plan is difficult for many people, and patient-centered decision support may help consumers make these choices. We tested whether providing a patient-centered decision-support tool-with or without machine-based, personalized exp ... Full text Cite

Effect of a Lay Health Worker Intervention on Goals-of-Care Documentation and on Health Care Use, Costs, and Satisfaction Among Patients With Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Journal article JAMA oncology · October 2018 Featured Publication ImportanceAlthough lay health workers (LHWs) improve cancer screening and treatment adherence, evidence on whether they can enhance other aspects of care is limited.ObjectiveTo determine whether an LHW program can increase documentation o ... Full text Cite

Marketplace Plans Provide Risk Protection, But Actuarial Values Overstate Realized Coverage For Most Enrollees.

Journal article Health affairs (Project Hope) · December 2017 Featured Publication The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has increased the number of Americans with health insurance. Yet many policy makers and consumers have questioned the value of Marketplace plan coverage because of the generally high levels of cost sharing. We simulated out-of ... Full text Cite

Mortality In Rural China Declined As Health Insurance Coverage Increased, But No Evidence The Two Are Linked.

Journal article Health affairs (Project Hope) · September 2017 Featured Publication Health insurance holds the promise of improving population health and survival and protecting people from catastrophic health spending. Yet evidence from lower- and middle-income countries on the impact of health insurance is limited. We investigated wheth ... Full text Cite

The effect of hospital/physician integration on hospital choice.

Journal article Journal of health economics · December 2016 Featured Publication In this paper, we estimate how hospital ownership of physicians' practices affects their patients' hospital choices. We match data on the hospital admissions of Medicare beneficiaries, including the identity of their physician, with data on the identity of ... Full text Cite

Medicare Advantage Plans Pay Hospitals Less Than Traditional Medicare Pays.

Journal article Health affairs (Project Hope) · August 2016 Featured Publication There is ongoing debate about how prices paid to providers by Medicare Advantage plans compare to prices paid by fee-for-service Medicare. We used data from Medicare and the Health Care Cost Institute to identify the prices paid for hospital services by fe ... Full text Cite

Physician practice competition and prices paid by private insurers for office visits.

Journal article JAMA · October 2014 Featured Publication ImportancePhysician practice consolidation could promote higher-quality care but may also create greater economic market power that could lead to higher prices for physician services.ObjectiveTo assess the relationship between physician c ... Full text Cite

Vertical integration: hospital ownership of physician practices is associated with higher prices and spending.

Journal article Health affairs (Project Hope) · May 2014 Featured Publication We examined the consequences of contractual or ownership relationships between hospitals and physician practices, often described as vertical integration. Such integration can reduce health spending and increase the quality of care by improving communicati ... Full text Cite

Private insurers' payments for routine physician office visits vary substantially across the United States.

Journal article Health affairs (Project Hope) · September 2013 Featured Publication Anecdotal reports suggest that substantial variation exists in private insurers' payments for physician services, but systematic evidence is lacking. Using a retrospective analysis of insurance claims for routine office visits, consultations, and preventiv ... Full text Cite

Pricing and Welfare in Health Plan Choice.

Journal article The American economic review · December 2012 Featured Publication Premiums in health insurance markets frequently do not reflect individual differences in costs, either because consumers have private information or because prices are not risk rated. This creates inefficiencies when consumers self-select into plans. We de ... Full text Cite