Does hospital competition save lives? Evidence from the English NHS patient choice reforms

Zack Cooper, Stephen Gibbons, Simon Jones and Alistair McGuire

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Recent substantive reforms to the English National Health Service expanded patient choice and encouraged hospitals to compete within a market with fixed prices. This study investigates whether these reforms led to improvements in hospital quality. We use a difference-in-difference-style estimator to test whether hospital quality (measured using mortality from acute myocardial infarction) improved more quickly in more competitive markets after these reforms came into force in 2006. We find that after the reforms were implemented, mortality fell (i.e. quality improved) for patients living in more competitive markets. Our results suggest that hospital competition can lead to improvements in hospital quality.

Keywords: health care; quality; competition; choice; incentives; reimbursement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 L1 R0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-07-21
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (182)

Published in The Economic Journal, 21, July, 2011, 121(554), pp. F228-F260. ISSN: 0013-0133

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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/45167/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Does Hospital Competition Save Lives? Evidence From The English NHS Patient Choice Reforms (2011)
Working Paper: Does Hospital Competition Save Lives? Evidence from the English NHS Patient Choice Reforms (2010)
Working Paper: Does hospital competition save lives? Evidence from the English NHS patient choice reforms (2010)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:45167

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