Competition doesn't affect inpatient care costs
Hospitalist Leadership Connection, February 1, 2011
Despite the old economic principal that competition of services helps reduce the cost of those services, hospital competition does not lower healthcare costs, according to a recent study, “Cost of inpatient care and its association with hospital competition,” published in the November Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
Researchers looked at the costs of standard operations (i.e., appendectomy, carotid endarterectomy, bariatric surgery, radical prostatectomy, and pyloromyotomy), excluding patients with complications. They applied the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI); higher HHI represented the presence of more dominant hospitals in an area (i.e., lower competition).
Researchers concluded that “[h]igher level of hospital competition is associated with higher hospital gross charges, although competition intensity is not associated with hospital costs. These data are important as health policy makers consider possible cost-control measures."
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