IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/jecper/v13y1999i1p141-164.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Change, Consolidation, and Competition in Health Care Markets

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Gaynor
  • Deborah Haas-Wilson

Abstract

In this paper, the authors summarize the nature of the changes in the structure of the health-care industry. They focus on the markets for health insurance, hospital services, and physician services. They discuss the potential implications of the restructuring of the health care industry for competition, efficiency, and public policy. As will become apparent, this area offers a number of intriguing questions.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Gaynor & Deborah Haas-Wilson, 1999. "Change, Consolidation, and Competition in Health Care Markets," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 141-164, Winter.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:13:y:1999:i:1:p:141-164
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.13.1.141
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.13.1.141
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Salop, Steven C & Scheffman, David T, 1983. "Raising Rivals' Costs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(2), pages 267-271, May.
    2. Martin Gaynor & Paul Gertler, 1995. "Moral Hazard and Risk Spreading in Partnerships," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 26(4), pages 591-613, Winter.
    3. B. Douglas Bernheim & Michael D. Whinston, 1998. "Exclusive Dealing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(1), pages 64-103, February.
    4. Riordan, Michael H, 1998. "Anticompetitive Vertical Integration by a Dominant Firm," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(5), pages 1232-1248, December.
    5. David Dranove & William D. White, 1996. "Specialization, Option Demand, and the Pricing of Medical Specialists," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 277-306, June.
    6. Randall P. Ellis, 1996. "Health Premium Payment Systems for State Employees," Papers 0066, Boston University - Industry Studies Programme.
    7. ,, 1998. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(5), pages 687-698, October.
    8. Deborah Haas‐Wilson & Martin Gaynor, 1998. "Physician networks and their implications for competition in health care markets," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 7(2), pages 179-182, March.
    9. Crew, Michael A, 1969. "Coinsurance and the Welfare Economics of Medical Care," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(5), pages 906-908, December.
    10. Werden, Gregory J., 1990. "The limited relevance of patient migration data in market delineation for hospital merger cases," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 363-376, February.
    11. Gaynor, Martin & Anderson, Gerard F., 1995. "Uncertain demand, the structure of hospital costs, and the cost of empty hospital beds," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 291-317, August.
    12. Stano, Miron, 1987. "A further analysis of the physician inducement controversy," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 227-238, September.
    13. McCarthy, Thomas R., 1985. "The competitive nature of the primary-care physician services market," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 93-117, June.
    14. Michael Rothschild & Joseph Stiglitz, 1976. "Equilibrium in Competitive Insurance Markets: An Essay on the Economics of Imperfect Information," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 90(4), pages 629-649.
    15. David M. Cutler & Sarah J. Reber, 1998. "Paying for Health Insurance: The Trade-Off between Competition and Adverse Selection," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(2), pages 433-466.
    16. Kevin Lang & Peter-John Gordon, 1995. "Partnerships as Insurance Devices: Theory and Evidence," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 26(4), pages 614-629, Winter.
    17. Jonathan Gruber, 1992. "The Effect of Price Shopping in Medical Markets: Hospital Responses to PPOs in California," NBER Working Papers 4190, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. David Dranove & Mark A. Satterthwaite, 1992. "Monopolistic Competition When Price and Quality are Imperfectly Observable," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(4), pages 518-534, Winter.
    19. Gilbert, Richard J, 1989. "The Role of Potential Competition in Industrial Organization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 107-127, Summer.
    20. Martin Gaynor & Deborah Haas-Wilson & William B. Vogt, 2000. "Are Invisible Hands Good Hands? Moral Hazard, Competition, and the Second-Best in Health Care Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(5), pages 992-1005, October.
    21. Anne Beeson Royalty & Neil Solomon, 1999. "Health Plan Choice: Price Elasticities in a Managed Competition Setting," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 34(1), pages 1-41.
    22. Jason Barro & David M. Cutler, 2000. "Consolidation in the Medical Care Marketplace,A Case Study from Massachusetts," NBER Chapters, in: Mergers and Productivity, pages 9-50, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Town, Robert & Vistnes, Gregory, 2001. "Hospital competition in HMO networks," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 733-753, September.
    24. Darby, Michael R & Karni, Edi, 1973. "Free Competition and the Optimal Amount of Fraud," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 67-88, April.
    25. Gaynor, Martin, 1994. "Issues in the Industrial Organization of the Market for Physician Services," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 211-255, Spring.
    26. Baumol, William J, 1982. "Contestable Markets: An Uprising in the Theory of Industry Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(1), pages 1-15, March.
    27. Asher Wolinsky, 1983. "Prices as Signals of Product Quality," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 50(4), pages 647-658.
    28. Carl Shapiro, 1983. "Premiums for High Quality Products as Returns to Reputations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(4), pages 659-679.
    29. repec:bla:jemstr:v:3:y:1994:i:1:p:169-209:a is not listed on IDEAS
    30. Dranove, David & White, William D, 1994. "Recent Theory and Evidence on Competition in Hospital Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 169-209, Spring.
    31. Buchmueller, Thomas C. & Feldstein, Paul J., 1997. "The effect of price on switching among health plans," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 231-247, April.
    32. ,, 1998. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(3), pages 381-386, June.
    33. Matthew J. Eichner & Mark B. McClellan & David A. Wise, 1997. "Health Expenditure Persistence and the Feasibility of Medical Savings Accounts," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 11, pages 91-128, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    34. David Dranove & Mark Shanley & Carol Simon, 1992. "Is Hospital Competition Wasteful?," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(2), pages 247-262, Summer.
    35. Brooks, John M. & Dor, Avi & Wong, Herbert S., 1997. "Hospital-insurer bargaining: An empirical investigation of appendectomy pricing," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 417-434, August.
    36. Wholey, Douglas & Feldman, Roger & Christianson, Jon B., 1995. "The effect of market structure on HMO premiums," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 81-105, May.
    37. Zwanziger, Jack & Melnick, Glenn A., 1988. "The effects of hospital competition and the Medicare PPS program on hospital cost behavior in California," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 301-320, December.
    38. ,, 1998. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 525-537, August.
    39. Ho, Vivian & Hamilton, Barton H., 2000. "Hospital mergers and acquisitions: does market consolidation harm patients?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 767-791, September.
    40. Winand Emons, 1997. "Credence Goods and Fraudelent Experts," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 28(1), pages 107-119, Spring.
    41. Richard G. Frank & David S. Salkever, 1991. "The Supply of Charity Services by Nonprofit Hospitals: Motives and Market Structure," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 22(3), pages 430-445, Autumn.
    42. Wholey, Douglas & Feldman, Roger & Christianson, Jon B. & Engberg, John, 1996. "Scale and scope economies among health maintenance organizations," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 657-684, December.
    43. Martin Gaynor & Ching-to Albert Ma, "undated". "Insurance, Vertical Restraints, and Competition," GSIA Working Papers 53, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business.
    44. Given, Ruth S., 1996. "Economies of scale and scope as an explanation of merger and output diversification activities in the health maintenance organization industry," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 685-713, December.
    45. Frech, Ted E, 1998. "Managed Care, Distance Traveled, and Hospital Market Definition," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series qt84x5q49q, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara.
    46. Haas-Wilson, Deborah, 1990. "Consumer information and providers' reputations : An empirical test in the market for psychotherapy," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 321-333, November.
    47. Krishnan, Ranjani, 2001. "Market restructuring and pricing in the hospital industry," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 213-237, March.
    48. R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), 1989. "Handbook of Industrial Organization," Handbook of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 2, number 2.
    49. Melnick, Glenn A. & Zwanziger, Jack & Bamezai, Anil & Pattison, Robert, 1992. "The effects of market structure and bargaining position on hospital prices," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 217-233, October.
    50. Gaynor, Martin & Pauly, Mark V, 1990. "Compensation and Productive Efficiency of Partnerships: Evidence from Medical Group Practice," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(3), pages 544-573, June.
    51. Martin Gaynor & Solomon Polachek, 1990. "Measuring Ignorance in the Market: A New Method with an Application to Physician Services," NBER Working Papers 3430, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    52. Bresnahan, Timothy F & Reiss, Peter C, 1991. "Entry and Competition in Concentrated Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(5), pages 977-1009, October.
    53. Esther Gal‐Or, 1997. "Exclusionary Equilibria in Health‐Care Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 5-43, March.
    54. ,, 1998. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 285-292, April.
    55. John Simpson & Richard Shin, 1998. "Do Nonprofit Hospitals Exercise Market Power?," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(2), pages 141-157.
    56. Farrell, Joseph, 1986. "How effective is potential competition?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 67-70.
    57. Klein, Benjamin & Leffler, Keith B, 1981. "The Role of Market Forces in Assuring Contractual Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(4), pages 615-641, August.
    58. Rizzo, John A. & Blumenthal, David, 1994. "Physician labor supply: Do income effects matter?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 433-453.
    59. Zeckhauser, Richard, 1970. "Medical insurance: A case study of the tradeoff between risk spreading and appropriate incentives," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 10-26, March.
    60. Lynk, William J, 1995. "Nonprofit Hospital Mergers and the Exercise of Market Power," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 38(2), pages 437-461, October.
    61. Katz, Michael L., 1989. "Vertical contractual relations," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 655-721, Elsevier.
    62. Dranove, David & Shanley, Mark & White, William D, 1993. "Price and Concentration in Hospital Markets: The Switch from Patient-Driven to Payer-Driven Competition," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(1), pages 179-204, April.
    63. Joseph E. Stiglitz & G. Frank Mathewson (ed.), 1986. "New Developments in the Analysis of Market Structure," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262690934, April.
    64. Unknown, 1986. "Letters," Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm, and Resource Issues, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 1(4), pages 1-9.
    65. Esther Gal‐Or, 1999. "Mergers and Exclusionary Practices in Health Care Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(3), pages 315-350, September.
    66. Roger Feldman & Michael Finch & Bryan Dowd & Steven Cassou, 1989. "The Demand for Employment-Based Health Insurance Plans," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 24(1), pages 115-142.
    67. Mark A. Satterthwaite, 1979. "Consumer Information, Equilibrium Industry Price, and the Number of Sellers," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(2), pages 483-502, Autumn.
    68. repec:cdl:ucsbec:13-98 is not listed on IDEAS
    69. R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), 1989. "Handbook of Industrial Organization," Handbook of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    70. Joseph P. Newhouse & Albert P. Williams & Bruce W. Bennett & William B. Schwartz, 1982. "Does the Geographical Distribution of Physicians Reflect Market Failure?," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 493-505, Autumn.
    71. Lynk, William J & Morrisey, Michael A, 1987. "The Economic Basis of Hyde: Are Market Power and Hospital Exclusive Contracts Related?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(2), pages 399-421, October.
    72. Robinson, James C. & Luft, Harold S., 1985. "The impact of hospital market structure on patient volume, average length of stay, and the cost of care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 333-356, December.
    73. Baker, Laurence C & Corts, Kenneth S, 1996. "HMO Penetration and the Cost of Health Care: Market Discipline or Market Segmentation?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 389-394, May.
    74. Joseph P. Newhouse, 1996. "Reimbursing Health Plans and Health Providers: Efficiency in Production versus Selection," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 1236-1263, September.
    75. Martin Gaynor & Deborah Haas-Wilson & William B. Vogt, "undated". "Are Invisible Hands Good Hands? Moral Hazard, Competition, and the 2nd Best in Health Care Markets," GSIA Working Papers 1999-E30, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business.
    76. ,, 1998. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 151-159, February.
    77. Wong, Herbert S., 1996. "Market structure and the role of consumer information in the physician services industry: An empirical test," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 139-160, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gaynor, Martin & Vogt, William B., 2000. "Antitrust and competition in health care markets," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 27, pages 1405-1487, Elsevier.
    2. Gaynor, Martin & Town, Robert J., 2011. "Competition in Health Care Markets," Handbook of Health Economics, in: Mark V. Pauly & Thomas G. Mcguire & Pedro P. Barros (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 499-637, Elsevier.
    3. Daniel P. Kessler & Mark B. McClellan, 1999. "Is Hospital Competition Socially Wasteful?," NBER Working Papers 7266, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Daniel Kessler & Mark McClellan, 1999. "Designing Hospital Antitrust Policy to Promote Social Welfare," NBER Working Papers 6897, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Jean Marie Abraham & Martin Gaynor & William B. Vogt, 2007. "Entry And Competition In Local Hospital Markets," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 265-288, June.
    6. Dranove, David & White, William D, 1994. "Recent Theory and Evidence on Competition in Hospital Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 169-209, Spring.
    7. Martin Gaynor & Kate Ho & Robert J. Town, 2015. "The Industrial Organization of Health-Care Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(2), pages 235-284, June.
    8. Allen C. Goodman & Miron Stano, 2000. "Hmos and Health Externalities: A Local Public Good Perspective," Public Finance Review, , vol. 28(3), pages 247-269, May.
    9. Martin Gaynor, "undated". "What Do We Know About Competition and Quality in Health Care Markets?," GSIA Working Papers 2006-E62, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business.
    10. Martin Gaynor, 1994. "Issues in the Industrial Organization of the Market for Physician Services," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 211-255, March.
    11. R. Halbersma & M. Mikkers & E. Motchenkova & I. Seinen, 2011. "Market structure and hospital–insurer bargaining in the Netherlands," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 12(6), pages 589-603, December.
    12. Daniel Kessler & Mark McClellan, 1999. "Designing Hospital Antitrust Policy to Promote Social Welfare," NBER Chapters, in: Frontiers in Health Policy Research, volume 2, pages 53-76, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899.
    14. Cutler, David M. & Zeckhauser, Richard J., 2000. "The anatomy of health insurance," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 563-643, Elsevier.
    15. David Bardey & Jean‐Charles Rochet, 2010. "Competition Among Health Plans: A Two‐Sided Market Approach," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(2), pages 435-451, June.
    16. Hsien‐Ming Lien & Shin‐Yi Chou & Jin‐Tan Liu, 2010. "The Role Of Hospital Competition On Treatment Expenditure And Outcome: Evidence From Stroke And Cardiac Treatment In Taiwan," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 48(3), pages 668-689, July.
    17. Krishnan, Ranjani, 2001. "Market restructuring and pricing in the hospital industry," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 213-237, March.
    18. David Bardey & Giancarlo Buitrago, 2015. "Integración vertical en el sector de la salud colombiano," Documentos CEDE 14069, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    19. Wu, Vivian Y., 2009. "Managed care's price bargaining with hospitals," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 350-360, March.
    20. Pan, Jay & Qin, Xuezheng & Li, Qian & Messina, Joseph P. & Delamater, Paul L., 2015. "Does hospital competition improve health care delivery in China?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 179-199.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:13:y:1999:i:1:p:141-164. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.