hospital setting. When the law was passed, some hospitals already met the requirements, while others did not. Thus changes in … AB394 had the intended effect of decreasing patient/nurse ratios in hospitals that previously did not meet mandated … patient safety in affected hospitals. …

between hospitals. Patients were given choice of location for hospital care and provided information on the quality and … approximately 68,000 discharges per year per hospital from 160 hospitals. We find that the effect of competition is to save lives … without raising costs. Patients discharged from hospitals located in markets where competition was more feasible were less …

geographic proximity is a key determinant of competition, and English public hospitals where political competition can be used to … construct instrumental variables for market structure. Since almost all major English hospitals are government run, closing … hospitals in areas where the governing party has a small majority is rare due to fear of electoral punishment. We find that …

choice increased demand elasticity faced by hospitals with regard to clinical quality and waiting time for an important … welfare. The elasticity of demand faced by hospitals increased post-reform, giving hospitals potentially large incentives to … improve their quality of care and find suggestive evidence that hospitals responded strongly to the enhanced incentives due to …

hospitals, the responsiveness of patients to greater choice, the provision of information and the use of fixed prices. The paper …

The literature on mergers between private hospitals suggests that such mergers often produce little benefit. Despite … half the short term general hospitals were involved in a merger, but that politics means that selection for a merger may be … reduction in activity. Given that mergers reduce the scope for competition between hospitals the findings suggest that further …