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WITHDRAWN - Does the medical consortium reform improve hospital ef?ciency? Evidence from secondary general hospitals in Shanxi, China, 2013-2017 (306703)
Miao Cai, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis UniversityKenton Johnston , College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University
*Xiaojun Lin, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University
Keywords: Medical consortium, Hospital efficiency, Data envelopment analysis, Difference-in-differences
The medical consortium (MC) is a form of vertical integration of health resources in China, typically involving one tertiary hospital and several secondary hospitals or community health centers in urban areas. China has been enhancing its efforts in building MCs that arrange closer partnerships between top- and low-tier hospitals. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of MC reform on hospital efficiency using the data from 159 secondary general hospitals in Shanxi during the period 2013-2017. Bootstrapping data envelopment analysis and a difference-in-differences approach were used to estimate the effect of MC reform on hospital efficiency. The results suggest that the MC reform is significantly associated with hospital efficiency. The secondary general hospitals participating in the MC reform have higher technical efficiency, which is driven by the increases of outpatient and emergency visits, doctors, and beds. Our study provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of China's recent MC reform in improving hospital efficiency and offers implications for the policymakers and hospital managers in other countries facing similar challenges in healthcare reform.