Defining Hospital Markets – An Application to the German Hospital Sector

Corinna Hentschker, Andreas Schmid () and Roman Mennicken ()

No 469, Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract: The correct definition of the product market and of the geographic market is a prerequisite for assessing market structures in antitrust cases. For hospital markets, both dimensions are controversially discussed in the literature. Using data for the German hospital market we aim at elaborating the need for differentiating the product market and at investigating the effects of different thresholds for the delineation of the geographic market based on patient flows. Thereby we contribute to the scarce empirical evidence on the structure of the German hospital market. We find that the German hospital sector is highly concentrated, confirming the results of a singular prior study. Furthermore, using a very general product market definition such as 'acute in-patient care' averages out severe discrepancies that become visible when concentration is considered on the level of individual diagnoses. In contrast, varying thresholds for the definition of the geographic market has only impact on the level of concentration, while the correlation remains high. Our results underline the need for more empirical research concerning the definition of the product market for hospital services.

Keywords: hospital market; concentration; product market; geographic market; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I11 L11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-com, nep-hea and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Journal Article: Defining Hospital Markets - An Application to the German Hospital Sector (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:rwirep:469

DOI: 10.4419/86788529

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