Vertical Alignment between Hospitals and Physicians as a Bargaining Response to Commercial Insurance Markets
49 Pages Posted: 2 Jun 2015 Last revised: 27 Apr 2016
Date Written: March 3, 2016
Abstract
The relationship between physicians and hospitals has dramatically changed over the last decade, with the employer-employee model supplanting the traditional model of private physicians with hospital admitting privileges. We examine the motivation for this form of vertical integration by considering physician-hospital alignment as a tool to increase bargaining power with private insurers. We find a positive and significant effect of private insurance concentration on physician-hospital alignment, with larger effects among for-profit hospitals and in counties with multiple hospitals.
Keywords: Healthcare market structure, Hospitals, Physicians, Bargaining, Vertical integration
JEL Classification: I11, L22
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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