Hospital Competition in the National Health Service: Evidence from a Patient Choice Reform

Kurt Brekke (), Chiara Canta (), Odd Rune Straume and Luigi Siciliani

No 28/2018, Discussion Paper Series in Economics from Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics

Abstract: We study the impact of exposing hospitals in a National Health Service (NHS) to non-price competition by exploiting a patient choice reform in Norway in 2001. The reform facilitates a difference-in-difference research design due to geographical variation in the scope for competition. Using rich administrative data covering the universe of NHS hospital admissions from 1998 to 2005, we find that hospitals in more competitive areas have a sharper reduction in AMI mortality, readmissions, and length of stay than hospitals in less competitive areas. These results indicate that competition improves patient health outcomes and hospital cost efficiency, even in the Norwegian NHS with large distances, low fixed treatment prices, and mainly public hospitals.

Keywords: Patient Choice; Hospital Competition; Quality; Cost-efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I11 I18 L13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2018-12-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-eff, nep-eur and nep-hea
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Journal Article: Hospital competition in a national health service: Evidence from a patient choice reform (2021)
Working Paper: Hospital Competition in the National Health Service: Evidence from a Patient Choice Reform (2018)
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