Competition and regulation in the healthcare sector

Oecd

No 334, OECD Roundtables on Competition Policy Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: Competition can control costs and incentivise efficiency in the healthcare sector. This paper examines how regulation interacts with competition in healthcare markets and identifies areas where competition authorities can advocate for pro-competitive regulation. It presents a framework for identifying and reviewing regulatory barriers to competition, and it discusses empirical evidence and relevant experience by competition authorities. It finds that rules such as needs based entry restrictions, or incumbents’ involvement in licensing decisions, can limit entry and reduce capacity. Similar concerns arise in professional regulation, where restrictive definitions of tasks and limited portability of licences can exacerbate workforce shortages and reduce access. The development of digital services can also be slowed down by regulatory barriers, such as the lack of interoperability between electronic records systems. Finally, pro-competitive regulation can support patients and payers by providing them with usable information.

Keywords: advocacy; competition; healthcare; pro-competitive reforms; professional licensing; regulatory barriers to competition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I11 I18 L11 L4 L44 L5 L8 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06-01
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1787/102fea92-en (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oec:dafaac:334-en

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in OECD Roundtables on Competition Policy Papers from OECD Publishing Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().