Abstract
This study analyses price effects of six mergers in the Dutch healthcare industry. We investigate whether the merging hospitals raised their prices for hip surgery after the merger and, if so, how patients react to this higher price. For seven of the twelve hospitals involved, we found a statistically significant price increase for hip surgery, for three hospitals we found a significant price decrease. There is no clear relationship between price changes of hip surgery and changes in travelling behaviour of patients post merger.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to the Dutch Healthcare Authority for giving access to the data. We thank Jarig van Sinderen, Henk Don, Aad Kleijweg, Ilaria Mosca, Rein Halbersma, MisjaMikkers,Willem Kerstholt, Krijn Schep, Gerard la Bastide, Frank Pellikaan, Tako Vermeulen, Machiel Mulder, Dennis Fok and the participants of the symposium on the Ex-post Evaluation of Competition Policy in Mannheim (2009) and an anonymous reviewer for their useful comments and suggestions.
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Kemp, R.G.M., Kersten, N. & Severijnen, A.M. Price Effects of Dutch Hospital Mergers: An Ex-post Assessment of Hip Surgery. De Economist 160, 237–255 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-012-9189-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10645-012-9189-6