Patient choice and the effects of hospital market structure on mortality for AMI, hip fracture and stroke patients

We examine (a) the effect of market structure on the level of mortality for AMI, hip fracture, and stroke between 2002/3 and 2010/11 and (b) whether this effect changed after the introduction of Choice policy in 2006 which gave patients the right to a wider choice of hospital. For AMI and hip fracture, hospitals with more rivals had higher mortality at the beginning of the period but this effect became smaller over the period. We find that the decline in the detrimental effect of market structure predated the introduction of Choice. Market structure had no effect on stroke mortality.