An impact evaluation of the strategy for normal birth care on caesarean section rates and perinatal mortality in Spain

Adela Recio Alcaide and Jose Arranz ()

Health Policy, 2022, vol. 126, issue 1, 24-34

Abstract: The objectives of this research are to evaluate the impact of a health policy (the Strategy for Normal Birth Care, EAPN) on caesarean rates and perinatal mortality in Spanish public hospitals belonging to the National Health System (NHS) and to assess the related cost savings. Data from the Spanish Ministry of Health for the period 2002−2011 and quantitative impact evaluation techniques (double difference method) are used to compare the effects of this policy in a treatment group composed of the NHS hospitals and a control group made up of private for-profit hospitals outside the scope of the EAPN. Both groups are compared some years before and after the health policy initiated in 2006 and approved in October 2007. The estimation results show that the EAPN had a significant effect in reducing caesarean rates of approximately 2 percentage points between 2007 and 2011, with increasing cost savings over the years ranging from 24 to 44 million euros depending on the year. Furthermore, EAPN reduced perinatal mortality levels by 0.08% in years 2008−2009.

Keywords: Health policy; Impact evaluation; Caesarean; Births; Perinatal mortality; Public and private hospitals; JEL Classification:; C21; I11; I14; I18; J16; L33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851021002839
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:hepoli:v:126:y:2022:i:1:p:24-34

DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2021.11.003

Access Statistics for this article

Health Policy is currently edited by Katrien Kesteloot, Mia Defever and Irina Cleemput

More articles in Health Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu () and ().