The effects of market structure and bargaining position on hospital prices

摘要: PPOs and HMOs have gained widespread acceptance due in part to the belief that excess capacity competitive market conditions can be leveraged negotiate lower prices with health care providers. We investigated obtained different types of markets by largest PPO California. Our findings indicate greater hospital competition leads prices. Furthermore, as importance a an area increases, price rises substantially. testing alternative methods for defining geographic reveals common practice using counties define underestimate price-increasing effects merger.