Mukamel D, Zwanziger J & Bamezai A, (2002)
‘Hospital Competition, Resource Allocation and Quality of Care’
BMC Health Services Research 2:10
- Investigates the effect of changing the type of competition (not the level of competition), from quality-based to price-based competition, on hospital behaviour and patient mortality.
- Uses data from California to test the hypothesis that in a price-competitive environment, hospitals will shift resources from activities related to clinical services, which are not easily observed and evaluated by patients, into hotel services which are easily observed.
Key results:
- In for-profit hospitals the marginal effect of competition was not statistically significant.
- In not-for-profit hospitals, the marginal effect of competition fell over time, but fell faster in clinical services than in hotel services.
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