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Extending Choice In English Health Care: The implications of the economic evidence

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Author Info
Burgess, Simon
Propper, Carol
Wilson, Deborah

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Abstract

Extending choice in health care is currently popular amongst English, and other, politicians. Those promoting choice make an appeal to a simple economic argument. Competitive pressure helps make private firms more efficient and consumer choice acts as a major driver for efficiency. Giving service users the ability to choose applies competitive pressure to health care providers and, analogously with private markets, they will raise their game to attract business. The paper subjects this assumption to the scrutiny provided by a review of the theoretical and empirical economic evidence on choice in health care. The review considers several interlocking aspects of the current English choice policy: competition between hospitals, the responsiveness of patients to greater choice, the provision of information and the use of fixed prices. The paper concludes that there is neither strong theoretical nor empirical support for competition, but that there are cases where competition has improved outcomes. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of this literature for policies to promote competition in the English NHS.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 5328.

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Date of creation: Nov 2005
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5328

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Keywords: choice competition English NHS reforms health care

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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  1. Martin Gaynor & William B. Vogt, 1999. "Antitrust and Competition in Health Care Markets," NBER Working Papers 7112, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Daniel P. Kessler & Mark B. McClellan, 2000. "Is Hospital Competition Socially Wasteful?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 115(2), pages 577-615, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Jonathan Gruber, 1992. "The Effect of Price Shopping in Medical Markets: Hospital Responses to PPOs in California," NBER Working Papers 4190, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. David Dranove & Daniel Kessler & Mark McClellan & Mark Satterthwaite, 2003. "Is More Information Better? The Effects of "Report Cards" on Health Care Providers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(3), pages 555-588, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Propper, Carol & Croxson, Bronwyn & Shearer, Arran, 2002. "Waiting times for hospital admissions: the impact of GP fundholding," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 227-252, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Propper, Carol, 1996. "Market structure and prices: The responses of hospitals in the UK National Health Service to competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 307-335, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Jean Marie Abraham & Martin Gaynor & William B Vogt, 2003. "Entry and Competition in Local Hospital Markets," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 03/088, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Thomas J. Kane & Douglas O. Staiger, 2002. "The Promise and Pitfalls of Using Imprecise School Accountability Measures," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 91-114, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Propper, Carol & Burgess, Simon & Green, Katherine, 2004. "Does competition between hospitals improve the quality of care?: Hospital death rates and the NHS internal market," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(7-8), pages 1247-1272, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Mike Damiani & Jennifer Dixon & Carol Propper, 2004. "Mapping choice in the NHS: Analysis of routine data," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 04/095, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK. [Downloadable!]
  11. Tay, Abigail, 2003. " Assessing Competition in Hospital Care Markets: The Importance of Accounting for Quality Differentiation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 34(4), pages 786-814, Winter.
  12. Sloan, Frank A., 2000. "Not-for-profit ownership and hospital behavior," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 21, pages 1141-1174 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Ho, Vivian & Hamilton, Barton H., 2000. "Hospital mergers and acquisitions: does market consolidation harm patients?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 767-791, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Robinson, James C. & Luft, Harold S., 1985. "The impact of hospital market structure on patient volume, average length of stay, and the cost of care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 333-356, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Propper, Carol & Wilson, Deborah & Soderlund, Neil, 1998. "The effects of regulation and competition in the NHS internal market: the case of general practice fundholder prices," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(6), pages 645-673, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Le Grand, Julian, 1991. "Quasi-markets and Social Policy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(408), pages 1256-67, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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