Posted by D. Daniel Sokol
Kurt Richard Brekke, Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) – Department of Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research), Luigi Siciliani,University of York (UK) and Odd Rune Straume, University of Minho – Economic Policies Research Unit (NIPE) analyze Hospital Competition with Soft Budgets
ABSTRACT: We study the incentives for hospitals to provide quality and expend cost-reducing effoort when their budgets are soft, i.e., the payer may cover deficits or confiscate surpluses. The basic set up is a Hotelling model with two hospitals that differ in location and face demand uncertainty, where the hospitals run deficits (surpluses) in the high (low) demand state. Softer budgets reduce cost efficiency, while the effect on quality is ambiguous. For given cost efficiency, softer budgets increase quality since parts of the expenditures may be covered by the payer. However, softer budgets reduce cost-reducing effort and the profit margin, which in turn weakens quality incentives. We also find that profit confiscation reduces quality and cost-reducing effort. First best is achieved by a strict no-bailout and no-profit-confiscation policy when the regulated price is optimally set. However, for suboptimal prices a more lenient bailout policy can be welfare improving. When we allow for heterogeneity in costs and qualities, we also show that a softer budget can raise quality for high-cost patients (and therefore reduce ‘skimping’ on such patients).
Featured News
Mexico Moves Forward with Reform to Eliminate Key Regulators, Including Competition Watchdog
Aug 23, 2024 by
CPI
DOJ Sues RealPage for Alleged Rent-Fixing Scheme Using AI Software
Aug 23, 2024 by
CPI
Advance Auto Parts to Offload Worldpac for $1.5 Billion
Aug 22, 2024 by
CPI
Bronfman Ups Ante to $6 Billion in Paramount Battle, Skydance Deal at Risk
Aug 22, 2024 by
CPI
Google and California Strike Historic Deal to Fund Newsrooms Amid Controversy
Aug 22, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – State Attorneys General
Aug 22, 2024 by
CPI
CPI Talks… …With Attorney General Phil Weiser
Aug 22, 2024 by
CPI
The Bipartisan Miracle of State Antitrust Enforcement
Aug 22, 2024 by
Gwendolyn J. Lindsay Cooley
Recent Developments in State Antitrust Enforcement: Agriculture and Food Markets
Aug 22, 2024 by
Elizabeth R. Odette
State Attorneys General: Stewards of Consumer Health and Welfare
Aug 22, 2024 by
Brooke Howlett Lovrovich