There is More to Transparency than Meets the Eye: The Impact of Mandatory Disclosure Laws Aimed at Promoting Breastfeeding

21 Pages Posted: 1 Oct 2014 Last revised: 31 May 2022

See all articles by Timothy D. Lytton

Timothy D. Lytton

Georgia State University College of Law

Barbara Dennison

New York State Department of Health

Trang Nguyen

New York State Department of Health

Janine Jurkowski

State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany, School of Public Health

Date Written: September 30, 2014

Abstract

Requiring hospitals to inform patients of clinical best practices and to disclose performance data are two common regulatory strategies for improving healthcare. Proponents of such mandatory disclosure laws — sometimes referred to as "targeted transparency" — argue that they increase patient awareness and thereby create reputational incentives for hospitals to improve their performance. Evaluation of targeted transparency typically focuses on patient responses to information and changes in hospital behavior based on reputational concerns. This standard account, however, overlooks other important ways targeted transparency can influence hospital performance.

This article presents a case study of disclosure laws designed to promote breastfeeding to illustrate how targeted transparency can influence hospitals independently of its effects on patients’ choice of provider or hospitals’ fear of losing business. We found that mandatory disclosure laws emboldened state regulators to take a more aggressive approach to enforcement of hospital regulations, empowered nurse managers to advocate more effectively within hospitals for changes in hospital policies, and enabled nurse managers to implement verifiable performance goals for clinical staff under their supervision. These findings suggest that the study of mandatory disclosure more generally — in areas such as financial regulation, environmental protection, food labeling, and workplace safety — would benefit by analyzing not only its influence on public awareness and its reputational effects but also on how regulators use transparency laws and how managers within regulated entities employ the information that the laws provide.

Keywords: mandatory disclosure, transparency, healthcare regulation, breastfeeding

JEL Classification: I10, I12, I18, K23

Suggested Citation

Lytton, Timothy D. and Dennison, Barbara and Nguyen, Trang and Jurkowski, Janine, There is More to Transparency than Meets the Eye: The Impact of Mandatory Disclosure Laws Aimed at Promoting Breastfeeding (September 30, 2014). American Journal of Law and Medicine, Vol. 40, p. 393, 2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2503475

Timothy D. Lytton (Contact Author)

Georgia State University College of Law ( email )

P.O. Box 4037
Atlanta, GA 30302-4037
United States

HOME PAGE: http://law.gsu.edu/profile/timothy-d-lytton/

Barbara Dennison

New York State Department of Health ( email )

Albany, 12237
United States

Trang Nguyen

New York State Department of Health ( email )

Albany, 12237
United States

Janine Jurkowski

State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany, School of Public Health ( email )

One University Place
Rensselaer, NY 12144
United States

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