MARKET POWER AND EFFICIENCY EFFECTS IN HOSPITAL MERGERS

医院合并中的市场力量和效率效应

基本信息

批准号：
2796836
负责人：
GLORIA J BAZZOLI
金额：
$ 11.26万
依托单位：
HEALTH RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL TRUST
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
1997
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
1997-09-30 至 2000-04-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2796836
关键词：
health economics health services research tag hospital analysis

项目摘要

Hospital industry representatives and community leaders have argued that hospital mergers could provide benefits through improved service coordination, reduced excess capacity, and increased ability to accept risk-based payment. Recent statements by an FTC Commissioner and recent court decisions in 2 highly concentrated hospital markets suggest an increased willingness to accept hospital arguments about potential consumer benefits accruing from merger. Many within the antitrust enforcement agencies, however, continue to maintain that the detrimental effects of increased market power resulting from merger are likely to dominate any beneficial effects. The highly charged debate about hospital antitrust is fueled by the growing interest among hospital executives and trustees in consolidation strategies given growing financial pressures within the industry. The proposed study addresses two fundamental questions: (1) to what degree and under what circumstances have prior hospital mergers generated efficiency gains; and (2) who benefits from hospital mergers --consumers in terms of lower hospital prices, hospitals in terms of higher profits, or both. The unique contribution of our proposed research is the application of a comprehensive approach that has been applied by industrial organization researchers to study mergers in other concentrated industries, such as air travel and banking. Specifically, we examine cost, price, and profit changes for merging hospitals and for rival firms affected by merger. While other economists are beginning to look at merged hospitals, a unique contribution of our research is the analysis of rival hospital actions. In addition, we study the potential intervening influences of ownership status and financial condition on merger cost, price, and profit effects. Finally, the proposed study utilizes unique data available to us on hospital restructuring after merger to better identify how merger cost-savings are generated. In all, the study provides a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of what happens to markets affected by merger and thus, a body of critical knowledge to assist policy development and health care management.

医院行业代表和社区领袖争论医院合并可以通过改善服务带来好处统筹协调，化解过剩产能，增强承接能力基于风险的支付。联邦贸易委员会 (FTC) 专员最近发表的声明和最近法院对两个高度集中的医院市场的判决表明更愿意接受医院关于以下问题的争论合并带来的潜在消费者利益。许多内然而，反垄断执法机构仍然坚持认为合并导致市场力量增强的不利影响可能会主导任何有益的影响。高收费的人们日益增长的兴趣加剧了有关医院反垄断的争论医院高管和受托人在整合战略中给出的行业内的资金压力日益增大。拟议的研究解决了两个基本问题：（1）达到什么程度以及在什么程度下之前的医院合并在什么情况下产生了效率收益； (2) 谁从医院合并中受益——消费者医院价格较低，医院利润较高，或两个都。我们提出的研究的独特贡献是应用已采用的综合方法产业组织研究人员研究其他领域的合并集中行业，例如航空旅行和银行业。具体来说，我们检查合并医院的成本、价格和利润变化，对于受合并影响的竞争对手公司。当其他经济学家开始考虑合并医院，这是我们的独特贡献研究是对竞争对手医院行为的分析。此外，我们还研究所有权状况和财务状况的潜在干预影响合并成本、价格和利润影响的条件。最后，拟议的研究利用了我们可获得的有关医院的独特数据合并后重组以更好地确定合并后如何节省成本被生成。总而言之，该研究提供了全面而深入的了解受合并影响的市场会发生什么因此，需要有一套关键知识来协助政策制定和医疗保健管理。