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Waiting Time Targets in Healthcare Markets: How Long Are We Waiting?

Author

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  • Huw Dixon
  • Luigi Siciliani

Abstract

Waiting-time targets are frequently used by policy makers in the healthcare sector to monitor providers' performance. Such targets are based on the distribution of the patients on the list. We compare and link such distribution with the distribution of waiting time of the patients treated, as opposed to on the list, which is arguably a better measure of welfare or total disutility from waiting (although it can only be calculated retrospectively). We show that the latter can be estimated from the former, and viceversa. We also show that, depending the hazard function, one distribution may be more or less favourable than the other. However, empirically we .nd that the proportion of patients waiting on the list more than x months is a downward estimate of the proportion of patients treated waiting more than x months, therefore biasing downwards the total disutility from waiting.

Suggested Citation

  • Huw Dixon & Luigi Siciliani, 2009. "Waiting Time Targets in Healthcare Markets: How Long Are We Waiting?," Discussion Papers 09/05, Department of Economics, University of York.
    • Handle: RePEc:yor:yorken:09/05
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    Cited by:

    1. Siciliani, Luigi & Moran, Valerie & Borowitz, Michael, 2014. "Measuring and comparing health care waiting times in OECD countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(3), pages 292-303.
    2. Cinzia Di Novi & Anna Marenzi & Dino Rizzi, 2018. "Do healthcare tax credits help poor-health individuals on low incomes?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(2), pages 293-307, March.
    3. Callum Brindley & James Lomas & Luigi Siciliani, 2023. "The effect of hospital spending on waiting times," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(11), pages 2427-2445, November.
    4. John Bowers, 2011. "Simulating waiting list management," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 292-298, September.
    5. Sofia Dimakou & Ourania Dimakou & Henrique S. Basso, 2015. "The Asymmetric Effects of Waiting Time Targets in Health Care," BCAM Working Papers 1502, Birkbeck Centre for Applied Macroeconomics.
    6. Thu-Ba T. Nguyen & Appa Iyer Sivakumar & Stephen C. Graves, 2017. "Scheduling rules to achieve lead-time targets in outpatient appointment systems," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 578-589, December.
    7. Moscelli, Giuseppe & Siciliani, Luigi & Tonei, Valentina, 2016. "Do waiting times affect health outcomes? Evidence from coronary bypass," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 151-159.
    8. Dixon, Huw David & Tian, Maoshan, 2022. "The Confidence Interval of Cross-Sectional Distribution of Durations," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2022/15, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section.
    9. Maoshan Tian & Huw Dixon, 2022. "The variances of non-parametric estimates of the cross-sectional distribution of durations," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(10), pages 1243-1264, November.
    10. Sofia Dimakou & Ourania Dimakou & Henrique Basso, 2015. "Waiting time distribution in public health care: empirics and theory," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-27, December.
    11. Dixon Huw, 2012. "A Unified Framework for Using Micro-Data to Compare Dynamic Time-Dependent Price-Setting Models," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-45, July.
    12. Siciliani, Luigi & Lafortune, Gaetan & Canaud, Marie-Clémence & Madichie, Chekwube, 2026. "Backlogs, waiting times and waiting lists of elective surgeries across OECD countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    13. Viberg, Nina & Forsberg, Birger C. & Borowitz, Michael & Molin, Roger, 2013. "International comparisons of waiting times in health care – Limitations and prospects," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 53-61.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    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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