Gaynor, Martin, Propper, Carol and Seiler, Stephan (2012) Free to choose?: reform and demand response in the English National Health Service. CEP Discussion Papers (CEPDP1179). London School of Economics and Political Science. Centre for Economic Performance, London, UK.
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Abstract
The impacts of choice in public services are controversial. We exploit a reform in the English National Health Service to assess the impact of relaxing constraints on patient choice. We estimate a demand model to evaluate whether increased choice increased demand elasticity faced by hospitals with regard to clinical quality and waiting time for an important surgical procedure. We find substantial impacts of the removal of restrictions. Patients became more responsive to clinical quality. Sicker patients and better informed patients were more affected. We leverage our model to calculate potential benefits. We find increased demand responsiveness led to a significant reduction in mortality and an increase in patient welfare. The elasticity of demand faced by hospitals increased post-reform, giving hospitals potentially large incentives to improve their quality of care and find suggestive evidence that hospitals responded strongly to the enhanced incentives due to increased demand elasticity. The results suggests greater choice can enhance quality.
| Item Type: | Monograph (Discussion Paper) |
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| Official URL: | http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/series.asp?... |
| Additional Information: | © 2012 The Authors |
| Divisions: | Centre for Economic Performance |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology |
| JEL classification: | D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D12 - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I11 - Analysis of Health Care Markets I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I18 - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health L - Industrial Organization > L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance > L13 - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets L - Industrial Organization > L3 - Nonprofit Organizations and Public Enterprise > L30 - General |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Mar 2013 14:35 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Dec 2024 19:08 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/48934 |
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