Journal
HEALTH POLICY
Volume 121, Issue 2, Pages 149-157Publisher
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2016.11.018
Keywords
Pro-competitive reform; Managed competition; Inter-organizational networks; Inter-organizational cooperation; Market structure; Health outcomes
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Pro-competitive policy reforms have been introduced in several countries, attempting to contain increasing healthcare costs. Yet, research proves ambiguous when it comes to the effect of competition in healthcare, with a number of studies highlighting unintended and unwanted effects. We argue that current empirical work overlooks the role of inter-organizational relations as well as the interplay between policy at macro level, inter organizational networks at meso level, and outcomes at micro level. To bridge this gap and stimulate a more detailed understanding of the effect of competition in health care, this article introduces a cross-level conceptual framework which emphasizes the intermediary role of cooperative inter-organizational relations at meso level. We discuss how patient transfers, specialist affiliations, and interlocking directorates constitute three forms of inter-organizational relations in health care which can be used within this framework. The paper concludes by deriving several propositions from the framework which can guide future research. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available