Hospital market concentration and discrimination of patients

Ralf Dewenter, Thomas Jaschinski and Björn A. Kuchinke

No 63, DICE Discussion Papers from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE)

Abstract: In this paper we investigate the existence of a two-tier medical system in the German acute care hospital sector using data from a survey of 483 German hospitals. The focus of our analysis lies on the impact of hospital concentration on the probability of discrimination of patients with different health insurances in regard to the access to medical services. Accounting for a possible endogeneity of market structure, we find that hospitals in highly concentrated markets are less likely to pursue any differentiation among prospective patients with different health insurances. We ascribe this finding to competitive pressure in less concentrated markets. Hospitals in competitive markets are more obliged to steal business from rival hospitals by privileging profitable patients than hospitals in highly concentrated markets.

Keywords: Hospital markets; Patients' discrimination; Survey data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I11 L1 L19 L22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com and nep-hea
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Journal Article: Hospital Market Concentration and Discrimination of Patients (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:dicedp:63

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