Competition amongst hospitals = better healthcare for patients

[Bruce Wayne]

More importantly, we find that higher competition (as indicated by a greater number of neighboring hospitals) is positively correlated with increased management quality, and this relationship strengthens when we instrument the number of local hospitals with local political competition. Adding another rival hospital increases the index of management quality by one third of a standard deviation and leads to a 10.7% reduction in heart-attack mortality rates.

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/28731/

 

[davek]

I really dont see the point being made here. It's semantics. If I were to conclude from their findings that a 5 year plan to improve health care requires more hospitals to be built in areas currently lacking them there will be a reduction in poor health across the spectrum in those area, I'd be equally correct as anyone claiming it as a victory for more competition.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

The researchers found five characteristics associated with the management of successful hospitals. One was competition—or at least the perception of having competitors. Hospital managers who named more than ten institutions that they competed with scored more highly on their management practice than those who saw fewer alternatives for their patients to choose from.

Having lots of small providers vying for patients will not on its own raise standards. The researchers also found that bigger is better when it came to good management. Hospitals employing 1,500 or more staff are better run than those employing more than 500, which, in turn, outperform those with more than 100 staff. Hospitals with less than 100 people working in them are particularly badly managed. Private ownership is another factor helping hospitals score more highly.

 

[davek]

It's a crock of [Poor language removed]. The ESRC funds this tripe?

If two or three hospitals exist where once only one existed then the associated benefits are going to be palpable: increased amount of experts operating locally will be co-ordinated by primary care trusts; preventative campaigns will be larger; outreach to the community in general will increase, and out of all that health standards for ALL will improve within the area. It's efficiency of scale we're talking about not the hidden hand of competition...a point backed up by the 'larger hospitals do better than smaller ones' finding.

Lets hope the axe is falling on researchers producing ridiculous papers like that one.

 

[chicoazul]

Its the bit about putting the underwriting of such health care in the hands of insurance companies who pay bonuses for the amount of cases they can get written off.

Health care isn't a privilege, it's a right and should be took care of by a government instead of PLCs.

 

[HirsuteBlue]

Management means what? Offing average doctors and replacing (PAYING!) with the best to massage the stats and squeezing nurses even harder. Postcode lottery. Grwat if you lie erm, somewhere south or somewhere close to south... ermmm

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Suppose you can only lead a horse to water.