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Hospital Health Care: Pricing and Quality Control in a Spatial Model with Asymmetry of Information

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  • Rosella Levaggi
Abstract
The cost of hospital care depends on the quality of the service, on the personal characteristics of the patient, on the effort of the medical staff and on information asymmetry. In this article the cost minimizing properties of alternative payment systems will be discussed in a context where hospitals can observe patient severity and compete according to the rules of Hotelling's spatial competition. The scheme is designed from the standpoint of a purchaser that sets up a contract with several providers for services of a given quality at the least possible cost. Patients' severity cannot be observed and quality cannot be verified, but the latter can be inferred through the choice of patients. The model shows that in the health care market, prospective payments and yardstick competition are weak instruments for cost containment; incentive compatible schemes are, at least from a theoretical point of view, better instruments especially in a context where the purchaser can use signals relating to the variables it cannot observe. Cost inflation has two components: the information rent paid to the provider and inefficiency. In our model the information rent is used by the provider to get more patients to his hospital; spatial competition can then be used to curb the cost of providing hospital care. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2005

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  • Rosella Levaggi, 2005. "Hospital Health Care: Pricing and Quality Control in a Spatial Model with Asymmetry of Information," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 5(4), pages 327-349, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:ijhcfe:v:5:y:2005:i:4:p:327-349
    DOI: 10.1007/s10754-005-3800-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Rosella Levaggi & Marcello Montefiori, 2013. "Patient selection in a mixed oligopoly market for health care: the role of the soft budget constraint," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 60(1), pages 49-70, March.
    2. Rosella Levaggi & Moretto Michele, 2008. "Investment In Hospital Care Technology Under Different Purchasing Rules: A Real Option Approach," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 159-181, April.
    3. Yasuo Sanjo, 2009. "Quality choice in a health care market: a mixed duopoly approach," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 10(2), pages 207-215, May.
    4. Levaggi, Laura & Levaggi, Rosella, 2020. "Is there scope for mixed markets in the provision of hospital care?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    5. Marcello Montefiori & Michela Pasquarella & Paolo Petralia, 2020. "The effectiveness of the neonatal diagnosis-related group scheme," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-12, August.
    6. Rosella Levaggi, 2007. "Regulating internal markets for hospital care," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 173-193, October.

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