IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/dicedp/45.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The effects of rebate contracts on the health care system

Author

Listed:
  • Graf, Julia

Abstract

Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) increasingly gain in importance with respect to the supply of pharmaceutical products and frequently use multiple or exclusive rebate contracts to exercise market power. Based on a Hotelling model of horizontal and vertical product differentiation, we examine the controversy whether there exists a superior rebate scheme as far as consumer surplus, firms profits and total welfare are concerned. Accounting for horizontal and vertical differentiation, we find that firms clearly prefer multiple over exclusive rebate contracts. Contrary, there exists no rebate form that per se lowers total costs for the members of the GPOs or maximizes total welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Graf, Julia, 2012. "The effects of rebate contracts on the health care system," DICE Discussion Papers 45, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:dicedp:45
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/56037/1/688727263.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brekke, Kurt R. & Konigbauer, Ingrid & Straume, Odd Rune, 2007. "Reference pricing of pharmaceuticals," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 613-642, May.
    2. Miraldo, Marisa, 2009. "Reference pricing and firms' pricing strategies," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 176-197, January.
    3. Sara Fisher Ellison & Christopher M. Snyder, 2010. "Countervailing Power In Wholesale Pharmaceuticals," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 32-53, March.
    4. Rajeev K. Tyagi, 2001. "Why Do Suppliers Charge Larger Buyers Lower Prices?," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 45-61, March.
    5. Marvel, Howard P. & Yang, Huanxing, 2008. "Group purchasing, nonlinear tariffs, and oligopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1090-1105, September.
    6. Greenlee, Patrick & Reitman, David & Sibley, David S., 2008. "An antitrust analysis of bundled loyalty discounts," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 1132-1152, September.
    7. Inderst, Roman & Wey, Christian, 2007. "Buyer power and supplier incentives," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 647-667, April.
    8. von Weizsacker, C Christian, 1984. "The Costs of Substitution," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(5), pages 1085-1116, September.
    9. Dana, James D., 2012. "Buyer groups as strategic commitments," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 470-485.
    10. Sreya Kolay & Greg Shaffer & Janusz A. Ordover, 2004. "All‐Units Discounts in Retail Contracts," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), pages 429-459, September.
    11. Snyder, Christopher M., 1998. "Why do larger buyers pay lower prices? Intense supplier competition," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 205-209, 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. Youqiong Ai & Thomas Y. Lu, 2019. "On the Rationality of Bundled Rebate Program in Modem Chip Industry: an Analysis on Qualcomm’s Case," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 641-660, December.
    2. Behzad Hezarkhani & Greys Sošić, 2019. "Who’s Afraid of Strategic Behavior? Mechanisms for Group Purchasing," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 28(4), pages 933-954, April.
    3. Laurent M. Willems & Hajo M. Hamer & Susanne Knake & Felix Rosenow & Jens-Peter Reese & Adam Strzelczyk, 2019. "General Trends in Prices and Prescription Patterns of Anticonvulsants in Germany between 2000 and 2017: Analysis of National and Cohort-Based Data," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 17(5), pages 707-722, October.
    4. Carl Rudolf Blankart & Tom Stargardt, 2017. "Preferred supplier contracts in post-patent prescription drug markets," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 419-432, September.
    5. Gianluca Antonecchia & Ajay Bhaskarabhatla & Enrico Pennings, 2024. "Bargaining Power and Quantity Discounts to Retailers: Evidence from India’s Pharmaceutical Industry," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-048/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    6. Patricia M. Danzon, 2018. "Differential Pricing of Pharmaceuticals: Theory, Evidence and Emerging Issues," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 36(12), pages 1395-1405, December.

    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. Jeon, Doh-Shin & Menicucci, Domenico, 2019. "On the unprofitability of buyer groups when sellers compete," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 265-288.
    2. Jeon, Doh-Shin & Menicucci, Domenico, 2014. "Buyer Group and Buyer Power When Sellers Compete," TSE Working Papers 14-543, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), revised Nov 2017.
    3. Battigalli, Pierpaolo & Fumagalli, Chiara & Polo, Michele, 2007. "Buyer power and quality improvements," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 45-61, June.
    4. Sara Fisher Ellison & Christopher M. Snyder, 2010. "Countervailing Power In Wholesale Pharmaceuticals," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 32-53, March.
    5. Chris Doyle & Martijn Han, 2014. "Cartelization Through Buyer Groups," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 44(3), pages 255-275, May.
    6. Yuxin Chen & Xinxin Li, 2013. "Group Buying Commitment and Sellers’ Competitive Advantages," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 164-183, March.
    7. Doyle, Chris & Han, Martijn A., 2012. "Cartelization through buyer groups," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2012-059, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    8. Dana, James D., 2012. "Buyer groups as strategic commitments," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 470-485.
    9. repec:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2012-059 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Stuart V. Craig & Matthew Grennan & Ashley Swanson, 2021. "Mergers and marginal costs: New evidence on hospital buyer power," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 52(1), pages 151-178, March.
    11. David Davis, 2014. "Buyer Alliances as Countervailing Power in WIC Infant-Formula Auctions," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 45(2), pages 121-138, September.
    12. Chiara Fumagalli & Massimo Motta, 2008. "Buyers’ Miscoordination, Entry and Downstream Competition," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(531), pages 1196-1222, August.
    13. Jeon, Doh-Shin & Menicucci, Domenico, 2013. "When Is Building a Library Consortium Beneficial?," IDEI Working Papers 791, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse, revised 07 Apr 2014.
    14. Ramon Fauli-Oller & Borja Mesa-Sánchez, 2015. "Losses from Horizontal Merger: an Extension to a Successive Oligopoly Model with Product Differentiation," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 83(5), pages 604-621, September.
    15. Fabra, Natalia & Reguant, Mar, 2020. "A model of search with price discrimination," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    16. Qijun Qiu & Li Jiang, 2019. "How to deal with consumers who group to request a discount?," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 66(6), pages 469-484, September.
    17. Grzegorz Zimon & Marek Sobolewski & Grzegorz Lew, 2020. "An Influence of Group Purchasing Organizations on Financial Security of SMEs Operating in the Renewable Energy Sector—Case for Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, June.
    18. Ren Wang & Jie Hou & Hui Song, 2020. "Use prices as sales agents," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(7), pages 1349-1364, October.
    19. Doh-Shin Jeon & Domenico Menicucci, 2017. "The Benefits of Diverse Preferences in Library Consortia," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(1), pages 105-135, March.
    20. Zhou, Yuan & Xie, Jinxing, 2014. "Potentially self-defeating: Group buying in a two-tier supply chain," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 42-52.
    21. Grzegorz Zimon & Dominik Zimon, 2020. "The Impact of Purchasing Group on the Profitability of Companies Operating in the Renewable Energy Sector—The Case of Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-15, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    GPOs; Rebate Contracts; Vertical Differentiation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L42 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Vertical Restraints; Resale Price Maintenance; Quantity Discounts

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:zbw:dicedp:45. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/diduede.html .

    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.