This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Designing Hospital Antitrust Policy to Promote Social Welfare

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Daniel Kessler
Mark McClellan
Abstract

Applying principles of merger evaluation to the health care industry in general, and to hospital markets in particular, poses several unique challenges. Definition of relevant geographic markets and assessment of the consequences of changes in competition for patient and social welfare are complicated by asymmetric information and moral hazard due to health insurance. We suggest a new empirical approach to assessing the impact of hospital competition which addresses the shortcomings of existing methods. We then summarize our main results on the welfare consequences of competition. We conclude with an illustration of how our methods can be used to assess the welfare implications of specific hospital mergers, and with some implications of our findings for antitrust policy.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w6897.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: Access to the full text is generally limited to series subscribers, however if the top level domain of the client browser is in a developing country or transition economy free access is provided. More information about subscriptions and free access is available at http://www.nber.org/wwphelp.html.

As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.

Publisher Info
Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 6897.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: Jan 1999
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:6897

Note: HC
Contact details of provider:
Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Phone: 617-868-3900
Email:
Web page: http://www.nber.org
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: ().

Related research
Keywords:

Other versions of this item:

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Held, Philip J. & Pauly, Mark V., 1983. "Competition and efficiency in the end stage renal disease program," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 95-118, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Daniel P. Kessler & Mark McClellan, 1996. "Do Doctors Practice Defensive Medicine?," NBER Working Papers 5466, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Scheffman, David T & Spiller, Pablo T, 1987. "Geographic Market Definition under the U.S. Department of Justice Merger Guidelines," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(1), pages 123-47, April.
  4. 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)
  5. Noether, Monica, 1988. "Competition among hospitals," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 259-284, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Kessler, Daniel & McClellan, Mark, 1996. "Do Doctors Practice Defensive Medicine?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 111(2), pages 353-90, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Joskow, Paul L., 1983. "Reimbursement policy, cost containment and non-price competition," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 167-174, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Dranove, David & White, William D, 1994. "Recent Theory and Evidence on Competition in Hospital Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 3(1), pages 169-209, Spring.
  9. David Dranove & Mark Shanley & Carol Simon, 1992. "Is Hospital Competition Wasteful?," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(2), pages 247-262, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Zwanziger, Jack & Melnick, Glenn A., 1988. "The effects of hospital competition and the Medicare PPS program on hospital cost behavior in California," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 301-320, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Martin Gaynor & Deborah Haas-Wilson, . "Change, Consolidation, and Competition in Health Care Markets," GSIA Working Papers 1999-E31, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. Panzar, John C, 1979. "Equilibrium and Welfare in Unregulated Airline Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(2), pages 92-95, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Melnick, Glenn A. & Zwanziger, Jack & Bamezai, Anil & Pattison, Robert, 1992. "The effects of market structure and bargaining position on hospital prices," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 217-233, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Manheim, Larry M & Bazzoli, Gloria J & Sohn, Min-Woong, 1994. "Local Hospital Competition in Large Metropolitan Areas," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 3(1), pages 143-67, Spring.
  15. Paul L. Joskow, 1980. "The Effects of Competition and Regulation on Hospital Bed Supply and the Reservation Quality of the Hospital," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 11(2), pages 421-447, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  16. Woolley, J. Michael, 1989. "The competitive effects of horizontal mergers in the hospital industry," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 271-291, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Richard Schmalensee, 1977. "Comparative Static Properties of Regulated Airline Oligopolies," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 8(2), pages 565-576, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Lynk, William J, 1995. "Nonprofit Hospital Mergers and the Exercise of Market Power," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(2), pages 437-61, October.
  19. Mark A. Satterthwaite, 1979. "Consumer Information, Equilibrium Industry Price, and the Number of Sellers," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(2), pages 483-502, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. 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)
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Daniel P. Kessler & Mark B. McClellan, 1999. "Is Hospital Competition Socially Wasteful?," NBER Working Papers 7266, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Gautam Gowrisankaran & Robert Town, 2002. "Competition, Payer, and Hospital Quality," NBER Working Papers 9206, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? Cannot find something on IDEAS? Encourage the publisher to index it! Instructions.

This page was last updated on 2010-1-7.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.