Market Concentration
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Health Affairs: Insurer Market Power Lowers Prices In Numerous Concentrated Provider Markets
Tags: Health Affairs, Inpatient Spending, Market Concentration, Outpatient Spending, Peer Reviewed Journals
Read more: Health Affairs: Insurer Market Power Lowers Prices In Numerous Concentrated Provider MarketsABSTRACT: Using prices of hospital admissions and visits to five types of physicians, we analyzed how provider and insurer market concentration—as measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI)—interact and are correlated with prices. We found evidence that in the range of the Department of Justice’s and Federal Trade Commission’s definition of a moderately concentrated market (HHI of…
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NBER: Does Multispecialty Practice Enhance Physician Market Power?
Read more: NBER: Does Multispecialty Practice Enhance Physician Market Power?ABSTRACT: In markets for health services, vertical integration – common ownership of producers of complementary services – may have both pro- and anti-competitive effects. Despite this, no empirical research has examined the consequences of multispecialty physician practice – a common and increasing form of vertical integration – for physician prices. We use data on 40 million…
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NBER: Why Don’t Commercial Health Plans Use Prospective Payment?
Tags: Commercially Insured, Geographic Variation, Inpatient Spending, Market Concentration, NBER, Peer Reviewed JournalsRead more: NBER: Why Don’t Commercial Health Plans Use Prospective Payment?ABSTRACT One of the key terms in contracts between hospitals and insurers is how the parties apportion the financial risk of treating unexpectedly costly patients. “Prospective” payment contracts give hospitals a lump-sum amount, depending on the medical condition of the patient, with limited adjustment for the level of services provided. We use data from the…
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Health Affairs: Health Spending Slowdown Is Mostly Due To Economic Factors, Not Structural Change In The Health Care Sector
Tags: Affordable Care Act, Commercially Insured, Health Affairs, Market Concentration, Peer Reviewed JournalsRead more: Health Affairs: Health Spending Slowdown Is Mostly Due To Economic Factors, Not Structural Change In The Health Care SectorABSTRACT: The source of the recent slowdown in health spending growth remains unclear. We used new and unique data on privately insured people to estimate the effect of the economic slowdown that began in December 2007 on the rate of growth in health spending. By exploiting regional variations in the severity of the slowdown, we determined…