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Assessing the quality of public services: For-profits, chains, and concentration in the hospital market.

Johannes S KunzCarol PropperKevin E StaubRainer Winkelmann
Published in: Health economics (2024)
We examine variation in US hospital quality across ownership, chain membership, and market concentration. We propose a new measure of quality derived from penalties imposed on hospitals under the flagship Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, and use regression models to risk-adjust for hospital characteristics and county demographics. While the overall association between for-profit ownership and quality is negative, there is evidence of substantial heterogeneity. The quality of for-profit relative to non-profit hospitals declines with increasing market concentration. Moreover, the quality gap is primarily driven by for-profit chains. While the competition result mirrors earlier findings in the literature, the chain result appears to be new: it suggests that any potential quality gains afforded by chains are mostly realized by not-for-profit hospitals.
Keyphrases
  • healthcare
  • quality improvement
  • systematic review
  • mental health
  • risk assessment
  • health insurance
  • climate change
  • human health
  • affordable care act