Two Hospital Mergers on Chicago's North Shore: A Retrospective Study

U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Economics Working Paper No. 294

64 Pages Posted: 15 Jan 2009

Date Written: January 13, 2009

Abstract

We provide an in-depth analysis of the price effects of two hospital mergers that occurred in the north shore suburbs of Chicago in early 2000: Evanston Northwestern Healthcare's (ENH) purchase of Highland Park Hospital (HPH) and the merger of St. Therese Medical Center (STMC) and Victory Memorial Hospital (VMH). Using standard difference-in-differences methods with data from multiple sources, including health insurance data with actual transactions prices, we find that the ENH/HPH merger led to a large and statistically significant post-merger price increase. We find no evidence of a price increase after the STMC/VMH merger. These results are robust across data sources, control groups, and case mix adjustment methods.

Keywords: Hospital, Antitrust, Merger

JEL Classification: I11, K21, L44, L80

Suggested Citation

Haas-Wilson, Deborah and Garmon, Christopher, Two Hospital Mergers on Chicago's North Shore: A Retrospective Study (January 13, 2009). U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Economics Working Paper No. 294, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1327460 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1327460

Deborah Haas-Wilson

Smith College ( email )

Department of Economics
Northampton, MA 01060
United States
413-585-3636 (Phone)
413-585-3635 (Fax)

Christopher Garmon (Contact Author)

Bloch School of Management ( email )

United States
816-235-2689 (Phone)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
217
Abstract Views
1,433
Rank
255,035
PlumX Metrics