IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/hecrev/v7y2017i1d10.1186_s13561-017-0158-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the effects of price regulation and freedom of choice on quality: evidence from the physiotherapy market

Author

Listed:
  • Piia Pekola

    (Social Insurance Institution of Finland)

  • Ismo Linnosmaa

    (National Institute for Health and Welfare)

  • Hennamari Mikkola

    (Social Insurance Institution of Finland)

Abstract

In health care, many aspects of the delivery of services are subject to regulation. Often the purpose of the regulated health care system is to encourage providers to keep costs down without skimping on quality. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of price regulation and free choice on quality in physiotherapy organised by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland for the disabled individuals. We use the difference-in-differences method in our effort to isolate the effect of the regulation and for this task we have defined the regulated and non-regulated firms and their quality before and after the regulation. The variables needed in the econometric modelling were collected from several registers as well as by carrying out questionnaires on the firms. We show that price regulation decreased quality in physiotherapy statistically significantly and the mechanism was unable to incentivise firms to invest in quality. Most likely, our results are caused by cost reduction associated with price regulation. It seems that cost reduction was carried out through quality reductions in physiotherapy instead of increasing productivity. The result is sensible because comparable quality information is not published to support patient choice in this sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Piia Pekola & Ismo Linnosmaa & Hennamari Mikkola, 2017. "Assessing the effects of price regulation and freedom of choice on quality: evidence from the physiotherapy market," Health Economics Review, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-16, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:hecrev:v:7:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1186_s13561-017-0158-2
    DOI: 10.1186/s13561-017-0158-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s13561-017-0158-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s13561-017-0158-2?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kurt R. Brekke & Hugh Gravelle & Luigi Siciliani & Odd Rune Straume, 2014. "Patient Choice, Mobility and Competition Among Health Care Providers," Developments in Health Economics and Public Policy, in: Rosella Levaggi & Marcello Montefiori (ed.), Health Care Provision and Patient Mobility, edition 127, pages 1-26, Springer.
    2. Leemore S. Dafny, 2005. "How Do Hospitals Respond to Price Changes?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1525-1547, December.
    3. Villa, Juan M., 2012. "Simplifying the estimation of difference in differences treatment effects with Stata," MPRA Paper 43943, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    5. Gravelle, Hugh & Masiero, Giuliano, 2000. "Quality incentives in a regulated market with imperfect information and switching costs: capitation in general practice," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1067-1088, November.
    6. Thomas Allen & Eleonora Fichera & Matt Sutton, 2016. "Can Payers Use Prices to Improve Quality? Evidence from English Hospitals," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(1), pages 56-70, January.
    7. Martin Gaynor, "undated". "What Do We Know About Competition and Quality in Health Care Markets?," GSIA Working Papers 2006-E62, Carnegie Mellon University, Tepper School of Business.
    8. Office of Health Economics, 2007. "The Economics of Health Care," For School 001490, Office of Health Economics.
    9. Rosella Levaggi & Marcello Montefiori (ed.), 2014. "Health Care Provision and Patient Mobility," Developments in Health Economics and Public Policy, Springer, edition 127, number 978-88-470-5480-6, April.
    10. R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), 1989. "Handbook of Industrial Organization," Handbook of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    11. Joskow, Paul L. & Rose, Nancy L., 1989. "The effects of economic regulation," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 25, pages 1449-1506, Elsevier.
    12. Chalkley, Martin & Malcomson, James M, 1998. "Contracting for Health Services with Unmonitored Quality," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(449), pages 1093-1110, July.
    13. Sood, Neeraj & Buntin, Melinda Beeuwkes & Escarce, José J., 2008. "Does how much and how you pay matter? Evidence from the inpatient rehabilitation care prospective payment system," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 1046-1059, July.
    14. Gravelle, Hugh & Sivey, Peter, 2010. "Imperfect information in a quality-competitive hospital market," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 524-535, July.
    15. Hugh Gravelle & Peter Sivey, "undated". "Imperfect quality information in a quality-competitive hospital market," Discussion Papers 09/09, Department of Economics, University of York.
    16. Ellis, Randall P., 1998. "Creaming, skimping and dumping: provider competition on the intensive and extensive margins1," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 537-555, October.
    17. Ellis, Randall P. & McGuire, Thomas G., 1986. "Provider behavior under prospective reimbursement : Cost sharing and supply," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 129-151, June.
    18. R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), 1989. "Handbook of Industrial Organization," Handbook of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 2, number 2.
    19. Hugh Gravelle & Rita Santos & Luigi Siciliani & Rosalind Goudie, 2012. "Hospital Quality Competition Under Fixed Prices," Working Papers 080cherp, Centre for Health Economics, University of York.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Domenico Lisi & Luigi Siciliani & Odd Rune Straume, 2020. "Hospital competition under pay‐for‐performance: Quality, mortality, and readmissions," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 289-314, April.
    2. Gravelle, Hugh & Santos, Rita & Siciliani, Luigi, 2014. "Does a hospital's quality depend on the quality of other hospitals? A spatial econometrics approach," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 203-216.
    3. Hugh Gravelle & Rita Santos & Luigi Siciliani & Rosalind Goudie, 2012. "Hospital Quality Competition Under Fixed Prices," Working Papers 080cherp, Centre for Health Economics, University of York.
    4. Siciliani, Luigi & Straume, Odd Rune, 2019. "Competition and equity in health care markets," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-14.
    5. Jurgita Januleviciute & Jan Erik Askildsen & Oddvar Kaarboe & Luigi Siciliani & Matt Sutton, 2016. "How do Hospitals Respond to Price Changes? Evidence from Norway," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(5), pages 620-636, May.
    6. Giuseppe Moscelli & Hugh Gravelle & Luigi Siciliani, 2018. "Effects of Market Structure and Patient Choice on Hospital Quality for Planned Patients," School of Economics Discussion Papers 1118, School of Economics, University of Surrey.
    7. Kurt R. Brekke & Luigi Siciliani & Odd Rune Straume, 2011. "Hospital Competition and Quality with Regulated Prices," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 113, pages 444-469, June.
    8. Martin Gaynor & Kate Ho & Robert J. Town, 2015. "The Industrial Organization of Health-Care Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(2), pages 235-284, June.
    9. Brekke, Kurt R. & Levaggi, Rosella & Siciliani, Luigi & Straume, Odd Rune, 2016. "Patient mobility and health care quality when regions and patients differ in income," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 372-387.
    10. Donald J. Wright, 2013. "An Equilibrium Model of General Practitioner Payment Schemes," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 89(286), pages 287-299, September.
    11. Moscone, Francesco & Siciliani, Luigi & Tosetti, Elisa & Vittadini, Giorgio, 2020. "Do public and private hospitals differ in quality? Evidence from Italy," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    12. Beitia, Arantza, 2003. "Hospital quality choice and market structure in a regulated duopoly," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 1011-1036, November.
    13. Jeannette Brosig‐Koch & Burkhard Hehenkamp & Johanna Kokot, 2017. "The effects of competition on medical service provision," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(S3), pages 6-20, December.
    14. Giuseppe Moscelli & Hugh Gravelle & Luigi Siciliani, 2016. "Market structure, patient choice and hospital quality for elective patients," Working Papers 139cherp, Centre for Health Economics, University of York.
    15. Cooper, Zack & Gibbons, Stephen & Skellern, Matthew, 2018. "Does competition from private surgical centres improve public hospitals' performance? Evidence from the English National Health Service," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 63-80.
    16. Hugh Gravelle & Rita Santos & Luigi Siciliani, 2013. "Does a hospitals quality depend on the quality of other hospitals? A spatial econometrics approach to investigating hospital quality competition," Working Papers 082cherp, Centre for Health Economics, University of York.
    17. Maija Halonen-Akatwijuka & Carol Propper, 2012. "Competition, Equity and Quality in Health Care," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 12/296, The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK.
    18. Xinyu Li & Christian Waibel, 2021. "Patients' free choice of physicians is not always good," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(11), pages 2751-2765, November.
    19. Kurt R. Brekke & Roberto Cellini & Luigi Siciliani & Odd Rune Straume, 2008. "Competition and quality in regulated markets: a differential-game approach," NIPE Working Papers 08/2008, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    20. Calogero Guccio & Domenico Lisi & Giacomo Pignataro, 2016. "Readmission and Hospital Quality under Different Payment Regimes," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 72(4), pages 453-474, 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:spr:hecrev:v:7:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1186_s13561-017-0158-2. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/13561 .

    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.