IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v104y2012i2p163-171.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Hospital ownership and efficiency: A review of studies with particular focus on Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Tiemann, Oliver
  • Schreyögg, Jonas
  • Busse, Reinhard

Abstract

The German hospital market has been subject over the past two decades to a variety of healthcare reforms. Particularly the introduction of diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) in 2004 aimed to increase efficiency of hospitals. The objective of the paper is to review recent studies comparing the efficiency of German public, private non-profit and private for-profit hospitals. The results of the studies are quite mixed. However, in line with the evidence found in studies from other countries, especially the US, the evidence from Germany suggests that private ownership (i.e., private non-profit and private for-profit) is not necessarily associated with higher efficiency compared to public ownership. This may be a surprising result to many policy makers as private for-profit hospitals are often perceived the most efficient ownership type by the public.

Suggested Citation

  • Tiemann, Oliver & Schreyögg, Jonas & Busse, Reinhard, 2012. "Hospital ownership and efficiency: A review of studies with particular focus on Germany," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 163-171.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:104:y:2012:i:2:p:163-171
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2011.11.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851011002508
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.healthpol.2011.11.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leopold Simar & Paul Wilson, 2000. "A general methodology for bootstrapping in non-parametric frontier models," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(6), pages 779-802.
    2. Pierre Pestieau, 2009. "Assessing The Performance Of The Public Sector," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 80(1), pages 133-161, March.
    3. Annika Herr, 2008. "Cost and technical efficiency of German hospitals: does ownership matter?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(9), pages 1057-1071, September.
    4. Zuckerman, Stephen & Hadley, Jack & Iezzoni, Lisa, 1994. "Measuring hospital efficiency with frontier cost functions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 255-280, October.
    5. Karen Eggleston & Yu‐Chu Shen & Joseph Lau & Christopher H. Schmid & Jia Chan, 2008. "Hospital ownership and quality of care: what explains the different results in the literature?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(12), pages 1345-1362, December.
    6. Matthias Staat, 2006. "Efficiency of hospitals in Germany: a DEA-bootstrap approach," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(19), pages 2255-2263.
    7. James F. Burgess, Jr. & Paul W. Wilson, 1996. "Hospital Ownership and Technical Inefficiency," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(1), pages 110-123, January.
    8. Léopold Simar & Paul W. Wilson, 1998. "Sensitivity Analysis of Efficiency Scores: How to Bootstrap in Nonparametric Frontier Models," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(1), pages 49-61, January.
    9. Sloan, Frank A., 2000. "Not-for-profit ownership and hospital behavior," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 21, pages 1141-1174, Elsevier.
    10. Niskanen, William A, 1975. "Bureaucrats and Politicians," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(3), pages 617-643, December.
    11. Grossman, Sanford J & Hart, Oliver D, 1983. "An Analysis of the Principal-Agent Problem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(1), pages 7-45, January.
    12. Silvio Daidone & Francesco D’Amico, 2009. "Technical efficiency, specialization and ownership form: evidences from a pooling of Italian hospitals," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 203-216, December.
    13. Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1994. "Politicians and Firms," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(4), pages 995-1025.
    14. Koop, Gary & Osiewalski, Jacek & Steel, Mark F. J., 1997. "Bayesian efficiency analysis through individual effects: Hospital cost frontiers," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1-2), pages 77-105.
    15. Hansmann, Henry, 1988. "Ownership of the Firm," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(2), pages 267-304, Fall.
    16. Clarkson, Kenneth W, 1972. "Some Implications of Property Rights in Hospital Management," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(2), pages 363-384, October.
    17. Miika Linna, 1998. "Measuring hospital cost efficiency with panel data models," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 7(5), pages 415-427, August.
    18. Simar, Leopold & Wilson, Paul W., 2007. "Estimation and inference in two-stage, semi-parametric models of production processes," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 31-64, January.
    19. Newhouse, Joseph P, 1970. "Toward a Theory of Nonprofit Institutions: An Economic Model of a Hospital," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(1), pages 64-74, March.
    20. Pauly, Mark V & Redisch, Michael, 1973. "The Not-For-Profit Hospital as a Physicians' Cooperative," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(1), pages 87-99, March.
    21. Fama, Eugene F & Jensen, Michael C, 1983. "Separation of Ownership and Control," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(2), pages 301-325, June.
    22. Jacobs,Rowena & Smith,Peter C. & Street,Andrew, 2006. "Measuring Efficiency in Health Care," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521851442, November.
    23. Annika Herr & Hendrik Schmitz & Boris Augurzky, 2011. "Profit efficiency and ownership of German hospitals," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(6), pages 660-674, June.
    24. Sari, Nazmi, 2003. "Efficiency outcomes of market concentration and managed care," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(10), pages 1571-1589, December.
    25. H. Shelton Brown, 2003. "Managed care and technical efficiency," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(2), pages 149-158, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thomas Czypionka & Markus Kraus & Susanne Mayer & Gerald Röhrling, 2014. "Efficiency, ownership, and financing of hospitals: The case of Austria," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 331-347, December.
    2. Mansour Zarrin & Jan Schoenfelder & Jens O. Brunner, 2022. "Homogeneity and Best Practice Analyses in Hospital Performance Management: An Analytical Framework," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 406-425, September.
    3. Tomoki Fujii, 2018. "Sources of health financing and health outcomes: A panel data analysis," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(12), pages 1996-2015, December.
    4. Matthias Vogl, 2012. "Assessing DRG cost accounting with respect to resource allocation and tariff calculation: the case of Germany," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Obure, Carol Dayo & Jacobs, Rowena & Guinness, Lorna & Mayhew, Susannah & Vassall, Anna, 2016. "Does integration of HIV and sexual and reproductive health services improve technical efficiency in Kenya and Swaziland? An application of a two-stage semi parametric approach incorporating quality me," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 147-156.
    6. Comendeiro-Maaløe, Micaela & Ridao-López, Manuel & Gorgemans, Sophie & Bernal-Delgado, Enrique, 2019. "A comparative performance analysis of a renowned public private partnership for health care provision in Spain between 2003 and 2015," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(4), pages 412-418.
    7. Roberto Colombi & Gianmaria Martini & Giorgio Vittadini, 2017. "Determinants of transient and persistent hospital efficiency: The case of Italy," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(S2), pages 5-22, September.
    8. Guccio, Calogero & Pignataro, Giacomo & Romeo, Domenica & Vidoli, Francesco, 2024. "Is austerity good for efficiency, at least? A counterfactual assessment for the Italian NHS," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    9. George Fragkiadakis & Michael Doumpos & Constantin Zopounidis & Christophe Germain, 2016. "Operational and economic efficiency analysis of public hospitals in Greece," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 247(2), pages 787-806, December.
    10. Vogl, Matthias, 2013. "Improving patient-level costing in the English and the German ‘DRG’ system," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 290-300.
    11. Rize Jing & Tingting Xu & Xiaozhen Lai & Elham Mahmoudi & Hai Fang, 2019. "Technical Efficiency of Public and Private Hospitals in Beijing, China: A Comparative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-18, December.
    12. Shahari, Mohd Ridzwan & See, Kok Fong & Mohammed, Noor Syahireen & Yu, Ming-Miin, 2023. "Constructing the performance index of Malaysia’s district health centers using effectiveness-based hierarchical data envelopment analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    13. Cláudia Araújo & Carlos Barros & Peter Wanke, 2014. "Efficiency determinants and capacity issues in Brazilian for-profit hospitals," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 126-138, June.
    14. Petrou, Panagiotis & Vandoros, Sotiris, 2018. "Healthcare reforms in Cyprus 2013–2017: Does the crisis mark the end of the healthcare sector as we know it?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 75-80.
    15. Alexander Karmann & Felix Roesel, 2017. "Hospital Policy and Productivity – Evidence from German States," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(12), pages 1548-1565, December.
    16. Yauheniya Varabyova & Carl Rudolf Blankart & Aleksandra Torbica & Jonas Schreyögg, 2017. "Comparing the Efficiency of Hospitals in Italy and Germany: Nonparametric Conditional Approach Based on Partial Frontier," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 379-394, September.
    17. Maik Lachmann & Rouven Trapp & Felix Wenger, 2016. "Performance Measurement and Compensation Practices in Hospitals: An Empirical Analysis in Consideration of Ownership Types," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(4), pages 661-686, October.
    18. Levaggi, Laura & Levaggi, Rosella, 2020. "Is there scope for mixed markets in the provision of hospital care?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    19. Tafesse, Wiktoria & Chalkley, Martin, 2021. "Faith-based provision of sexual and reproductive healthcare in Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    20. Kao, Chiang & Pang, Rui-Zhi & Liu, Shiang-Tai & Bai, Xue-Jie, 2021. "Most productive types of hospitals: An empirical analysis," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    21. George Fragkiadakis & Michael Doumpos & Constantin Zopounidis & Christophe Germain, 2016. "Operational and economic efficiency analysis of public hospitals in Greece," Post-Print hal-01414677, HAL.
    22. García-Cornejo, Beatriz & Pérez-Méndez, José A., 2018. "Assessing the effect of standardized cost systems on financial performance. A difference-in-differences approach for hospitals according to their technological level," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(4), pages 396-403.
    23. Cristian A Herrera & Gabriel Rada & Lucy Kuhn-Barrientos & Ximena Barrios, 2014. "Does Ownership Matter? An Overview of Systematic Reviews of the Performance of Private For-Profit, Private Not-For-Profit and Public Healthcare Providers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-18, December.
    24. Färe, Rolf & Karagiannis, Giannis, 2022. "Aggregating Farrell efficiencies without value data: The case of hospitals," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oliver Tiemann & Jonas Schreyögg, 2012. "Changes in hospital efficiency after privatization," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 310-326, December.
    2. Roberto Colombi & Gianmaria Martini & Giorgio Vittadini, 2017. "Determinants of transient and persistent hospital efficiency: The case of Italy," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(S2), pages 5-22, September.
    3. Varabyova, Yauheniya & Schreyögg, Jonas, 2013. "International comparisons of the technical efficiency of the hospital sector: Panel data analysis of OECD countries using parametric and non-parametric approaches," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 70-79.
    4. José M. Cordero & Agustín García-García & Enrique Lau-Cortés & Cristina Polo, 2021. "Efficiency and Productivity Change of Public Hospitals in Panama: Do Management Schemes Matter?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-21, August.
    5. Helmut Herwartz & Christoph Strumann, 2014. "Hospital efficiency under prospective reimbursement schemes: an empirical assessment for the case of Germany," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(2), pages 175-186, March.
    6. Ivonne Lindlbauer & Jonas Schreyögg, 2014. "The relationship between hospital specialization and hospital efficiency: do different measures of specialization lead to different results?," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 365-378, December.
    7. Dinesh R. Pai & Fatma Pakdil & Nasibeh Azadeh-Fard, 2024. "Applications of data envelopment analysis in acute care hospitals: a systematic literature review, 1984–2022," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 284-312, June.
    8. Nan Jiang & Antony Andrews, 2020. "Efficiency of New Zealand’s District Health Boards at Providing Hospital Services: A stochastic frontier analysis," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 53-68, February.
    9. Bao Hoang Nguyen & Robin C. Sickles & Valentin Zelenyuk, 2021. "What do we know from the vast literature on efficiency and productivity in healthcare? A Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis," CEPA Working Papers Series WP092021, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    10. Valentin Zelenyuk & Zhichao Wang, 2023. "Random vs. Explained Inefficiency in Stochastic Frontier Analysis: The Case of Queensland Hospitals," CEPA Working Papers Series WP052023, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    11. Yauheniya Varabyova & Carl Rudolf Blankart & Aleksandra Torbica & Jonas Schreyögg, 2017. "Comparing the Efficiency of Hospitals in Italy and Germany: Nonparametric Conditional Approach Based on Partial Frontier," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 379-394, September.
    12. Zhichao Wang & Bao Hoang Nguyen & Valentin Zelenyuk, 2024. "Performance analysis of hospitals in Australia and its peers: a systematic and critical review," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 139-173, October.
    13. De Nicola, Arianna & Gitto, Simone & Mancuso, Paolo, 2011. "A two-stage DEA model to evaluate the efficiency of the Italian health system," MPRA Paper 39126, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Stefan Felder & Harald Tauchmann, 2013. "Federal state differentials in the efficiency of health production in Germany: an artifact of spatial dependence?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 14(1), pages 21-39, February.
    15. Emma Medin & Kjartan Anthun & Unto Häkkinen & Sverre Kittelsen & Miika Linna & Jon Magnussen & Kim Olsen & Clas Rehnberg, 2011. "Cost efficiency of university hospitals in the Nordic countries: a cross-country analysis," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 12(6), pages 509-519, December.
    16. Annika Herr, 2008. "Cost and technical efficiency of German hospitals: does ownership matter?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(9), pages 1057-1071, September.
    17. Choi, Kanghwa, 2017. "Multi-period efficiency and productivity changes in US domestic airlines," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 18-25.
    18. Lukas Kwietniewski & Jonas Schreyögg, 2018. "Efficiency of physician specialist groups," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 409-425, September.
    19. Chew Lian Chua & Alfons Palangkaraya & Jongsay Yong, 2011. "Hospital Competition, Technical Efficiency and Quality," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 87(277), pages 252-268, June.
    20. Thomas Czypionka & Markus Kraus & Susanne Mayer & Gerald Röhrling, 2014. "Efficiency, ownership, and financing of hospitals: The case of Austria," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 331-347, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:104:y:2012:i:2:p:163-171. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.