IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cap/wpaper/042009.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Economies of scale and scope in the provision of diagnostic techniques and therapeutic services in Portuguese hospitals

Author

Listed:
  • Ricardo Gonçalves

    (Faculdade de Economia e Gestão - Universidade Católica Portuguesa - Porto)

  • Pedro Pita Barros

    (Faculdade de Economia - Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

Abstract

This paper analyses the provision of auxiliary clinical services that are typically carried out within the hospital. We estimate a flexible cost function for the three most important (cost- wise) diagnostic techniques and therapeutic services in Portuguese hospitals: Clinical Pathology, Medical Imaging and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Our objective in carrying out this estimation is the evaluation of economies of scale and scope in the provision of these services. For all services, we find evidence of ray economies of scale and some evidence of economies of scope. These results have important policy implications and can be related to the ongoing discussion of where and how should hospitals provide these services.

Suggested Citation

  • Ricardo Gonçalves & Pedro Pita Barros, 2009. "Economies of scale and scope in the provision of diagnostic techniques and therapeutic services in Portuguese hospitals," Working Papers de Economia (Economics Working Papers) 04, Católica Porto Business School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
  • Handle: RePEc:cap:wpaper:042009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.feg.porto.ucp.pt/docentes/repec/WP/042009%20-%20Gon%C3%A7alves%20e%20Barros%20-%20Economies%20of%20scale%20and%20scope%20in%20the%20provision.pdf
    File Function: First version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fournier, Gary M & Mitchell, Jean M, 1992. "Hospital Costs and Competition for Services: A Multiproduct Analysis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(4), pages 627-634, November.
    2. Grannemann, Thomas W. & Brown, Randall S. & Pauly, Mark V., 1986. "Estimating hospital costs : A multiple-output analysis," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 107-127, June.
    3. Vitaliano, Donald F., 1987. "On the estimation of hospital cost functions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 305-318, December.
    4. Williamson, Oliver E, 1979. "Transaction-Cost Economics: The Governance of Contractural Relations," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(2), pages 233-261, October.
    5. Ricardo Gonçalves & Pedro Pita Barros, 2013. "Economies of scale and scope in the provision of diagnostic techniques and therapeutic services in Portuguese hospitals," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 415-433, February.
    6. Grossman, Sanford J & Hart, Oliver D, 1986. "The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 691-719, August.
    7. Vassilis H. Aletras, 1999. "A comparison of hospital scale effects in short‐run and long‐run cost functions," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(6), pages 521-530, September.
    8. Caves, Douglas W & Christensen, Laurits R & Swanson, Joseph A, 1981. "Productivity Growth, Scale Economies, and Capacity Utilization in U.S. Railroads, 1955-74," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 994-1002, December.
    9. Preyra, Colin & Pink, George, 2006. "Scale and scope efficiencies through hospital consolidations," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 1049-1068, November.
    10. Annika Herr, 2008. "Cost and technical efficiency of German hospitals: does ownership matter?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(9), pages 1057-1071, September.
    11. Zuckerman, Stephen & Hadley, Jack & Iezzoni, Lisa, 1994. "Measuring hospital efficiency with frontier cost functions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 255-280, October.
    12. Braeutigam, Ronald R. & Daughety, Andrew F., 1983. "On the estimation of returns to scale using variable cost functions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-2), pages 25-31.
    13. Serge Garcia & Alban Thomas, 2001. "The Structure of Municipal Water Supply Costs: Application to a Panel of French Local Communities," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 5-29, July.
    14. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 2002. "Integration versus Outsourcing in Industry Equilibrium," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 85-120.
    15. Smet, Mike, 2002. "Cost characteristics of hospitals," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(6), pages 895-906, September.
    16. Vita, Michael G., 1990. "Exploring hospital production relationships with flexible functional forms," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 1-21, June.
    17. Matthias Staat, 2006. "Efficiency of hospitals in Germany: a DEA-bootstrap approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(19), pages 2255-2263.
    18. Tong Li & Robert Rosenman, 2001. "Estimating hospital costs with a generalized Leontief function," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(6), pages 523-538, September.
    19. Michael D. Rosko, 2001. "Cost efficiency of US hospitals: a stochastic frontier approach," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(6), pages 539-551, September.
    20. Giovanni Fraquelli & Massimiliano Piacenza & Davide Vannoni, 2004. "Scope and scale economies in multi-utilities: evidence from gas, water and electricity combinations," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(18), pages 2045-2057.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sebastian McRae & Jens O. Brunner & Jonathan F. Bard, 2020. "Analyzing economies of scale and scope in hospitals by use of case mix planning," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 80-101, March.
    2. Kao, Chiang & Pang, Rui-Zhi & Liu, Shiang-Tai & Bai, Xue-Jie, 2021. "Optimal expansion paths for hospitals of different types: Viewpoint of scope economies and evidence from Chinese hospitals," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 289(2), pages 628-638.
    3. Ricardo Gonçalves & Pedro Pita Barros, 2013. "Economies of scale and scope in the provision of diagnostic techniques and therapeutic services in Portuguese hospitals," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 415-433, February.
    4. Helda Azevedo & Céu Mateus, 2014. "Cost effects of hospital mergers in Portugal," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(9), pages 999-1010, December.
    5. Monica Giancotti & Annamaria Guglielmo & Marianna Mauro, 2017. "Efficiency and optimal size of hospitals: Results of a systematic search," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(3), pages 1-40, March.
    6. Ferreira, D.C. & Marques, R.C. & Nunes, A.M., 2018. "Economies of scope in the health sector: The case of Portuguese hospitals," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 266(2), pages 716-735.
    7. Galina Besstremyannaya, 2015. "Heterogeneous effect of residency matching and prospective payment on labor returns and hospital scale economies," Discussion Papers 15-001, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    8. Barros, Pedro Pita, 2017. "Competition policy for health care provision in Portugal," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 141-148.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marini G & Miraldo M, 2009. "The costs of new organisational and financial freedom: The case of English NHS trusts," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/26, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    2. Helda Azevedo & Céu Mateus, 2014. "Cost effects of hospital mergers in Portugal," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(9), pages 999-1010, December.
    3. Monica Giancotti & Annamaria Guglielmo & Marianna Mauro, 2017. "Efficiency and optimal size of hospitals: Results of a systematic search," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(3), pages 1-40, March.
    4. Kristensen, Troels & Olsen, Kim Rose & Kilsmark, Jannie & Lauridsen, Jørgen T. & Pedersen, Kjeld Møller, 2012. "Economies of scale and scope in the Danish hospital sector prior to radical restructuring plans," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(2), pages 120-126.
    5. Mehdi Farsi & Massimo Filippini, 2008. "Effects of ownership, subsidization and teaching activities on hospital costs in Switzerland," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(3), pages 335-350, March.
    6. Siciliani, Luigi & Stanciole, Anderson & Jacobs, Rowena, 2009. "Do waiting times reduce hospital costs?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 771-780, July.
    7. Guilhermina Rego & Rui Nunes & José Costa, 2010. "The challenge of corporatisation: the experience of Portuguese public hospitals," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 11(4), pages 367-381, August.
    8. Dor, Avi & Farley, Dean E., 1996. "Payment source and the cost of hospital care: Evidence from a multiproduct cost function with multiple payers," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 1-21, February.
    9. Paul W. Wilson & Kathleen Carey, 2004. "Nonparametric analysis of returns to scale in the US hospital industry," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(4), pages 505-524.
    10. Kathleen Carey & Jean M. Mitchell, 2018. "Specialization and production cost efficiency: evidence from ambulatory surgery centers," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 83-98, March.
    11. John Romley & Erin Trish & Dana Goldman & Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin & Yulei He & Paul Ginsburg, 2019. "Geographic variation in the delivery of high-value inpatient care," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-11, March.
    12. Stefan Meyer, 2015. "Payment schemes and cost efficiency: evidence from Swiss public hospitals," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 73-97, March.
    13. Polyzos, Nicholas M., 2002. "Striving towards efficiency in the Greek hospitals by reviewing case mix classifications," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 305-328, September.
    14. Vassilis H. Aletras, 1999. "A comparison of hospital scale effects in short‐run and long‐run cost functions," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(6), pages 521-530, September.
    15. Cohen, Jeffrey P. & Morrison Paul, Catherine, 2008. "Agglomeration and Cost Economies for Washington State Hospital Services," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 553-564, November.
    16. Alvaro Almeida & Joana Cima, 2015. "Demand uncertainty and hospital costs: an application to Portuguese public hospitals," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 16(1), pages 35-45, January.
    17. P. Prezerakos & N. Maniadakis & D. Kaitelidou & N. Kotsopoulos & J. Yfantopoulos, 2007. "Measuring Across Hospital Efficiency and Productivity: The Case of Second Regional Health Authority of Attica," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1-2), pages 83-96.
    18. Piacenza, Massimiliano & Turati, Gilberto & Vannoni, Davide, 2010. "Restructuring hospital industry to control public health care expenditure: The role of input substitutability," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 881-890, July.
    19. Ma, Yue & Qu, Baozhi & Zhang, Yifan, 2010. "Judicial quality, contract intensity and trade: Firm-level evidence from developing and transition countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 146-159, June.
    20. Koop, Gary & Osiewalski, Jacek & Steel, Mark F. J., 1997. "Bayesian efficiency analysis through individual effects: Hospital cost frontiers," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1-2), pages 77-105.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    translog cost function; economies of scale; economies of scope; clinical services; hospitals;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cap:wpaper:042009. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ricardo Goncalves (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feucppt.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.