Competition between Hospitals: Does it Affect Quality of Care ?

Summary Following the example of the United States, most European countries reformed their hospital regulations in the early 2000s, with the introduction of a new payment system aimed at encouraging efficiency in care delivery. Because they put strong pressure on hospitals to lower their costs, wide implementation of these reforms raised concerns for some about quality of care. One solution has been to encourage quality competition among hospitals. The purpose of this volume is to bring together relevant theoretical and empirical results regarding the impact of hospital competition on the quality of care. Contributions come from academic economists recognized as the best specialists of the topic worldwide. They address the following questions: Does more intense competition among hospitals operating under fixed price systems always result in improved quality of care? Do hospital objectives and/or ownership matter? Is the impact identical for different diseases? Is it appropriate to introduce competition among hospitals with different mandates?.