Effects of Competition among Primary Medical Institutions on Medical Expenses
Primary medical institutions play a very important role in providing healthcare service in China.Compared with hospitals,the medical services provided by primary medical institutions are relatively common and simple,and the patients served are quite stable,thus it provides an appropriate market setting to analyze the effects of competition of medical institutions.However,there are very few studies in China examining this issue.This paper analyzes the effect of market competition on medical expenses of inpatients in primary medical institutions by utilizing a de-tailed micro-level administrative data set of inpatients and medical institutions from a sub-provin-cial city in China between 2018 and 2020.The results show that market competition will lead to the rise of medical expenses of inpatients in the current healthcare system.This result is consist-ent with the research findings that support the"medical arms race".In terms of itemized fees,competition will lead to an increase in drug,treatment fees and service fees,but a decrease in diagnosis.This paper also analyzes the potential impact mechanism of market competition on medical expenses,and the results shows that market competition is significantly and positively correlated with hospital length of stay,number of beds,number of medical personnel,and equipment investment.
primary medical institutionscompetitionmedical expense
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
