Research

Job Market Paper

The Impact of Telehealth Parity Laws on Health Expenses
Dong, X., 2022.

Abstract: Telemedicine is becoming increasingly popular as a way of providing remote medical care to patients. COVID-19 has pushed providers, patients, and payers into widespread adoption of telehealth. While there is extensive literature on how telemedicine impacts utilization of medical care at the individual level, little is known about how it affects aggregated medical expenditures. Using the staggered implementation of Telehealth Parity Laws (TPLs), I conduct difference-in-differences (DiD) analysis on aggregated stateyear expenditure data (1991-2014). I find that the passing of TPLs decreased total healthcare expenses by 3.9%, hospital care expenses by 3.0%, and physician service expenses by 5.9%. I also observe steady increases in both the empirical value and statistical significance of the effects 1 year down the road from implementation. After the 4th and subsequent years of implementation, reductions in total, hospital and physician health expenses categories are estimated to be 6.8%, 6.4%, and 9.4%, respectively.

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

Analyzing Racial and Ethnic Differences in the USA through the Lens of Multidimensional Poverty.
Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy
Dhongde, S., Dong, X., 2022.

Abstract: This paper provides a unified framework for practitioners who wish to estimate alternative indices of multidimensional poverty. These alternative indices are used to estimate multidimensional poverty in the USA over the last decade with a focus on analyzing trends by race and ethnicity. Individual level data on five different dimensions of well-being are compiled over the last decade using annual Census surveys. We find that multidimensional poverty in the USA declined over time regardless of the index used. A higher incidence of multidimensional poverty was observed among Hispanics, American Indians and Blacks. Poverty ranking among racial/ethnic groups was robust to the indices used. Estimates of alternative indices highlight different aspects of multidimensional poverty and provide complementary information on poverty in the USA in the last decade.

Work in Progress

Effects of COVID-19 on Prenatal Healthcare (joint with Daniel Dench)