Abstract
This paper examines two components of the hospital insurance market structure - market share and the absolute number of enrollees in Blue Cross plans - to ascertain whether market structure affects the willingness of Blue Cross plans to use cost control measures. Empirical estimates show that larger plans are more likely to use prospective reimbursement, pre-admission testing, and concurrent review. Market share, however, has a positive effect only on concurrent review. We suggest that there are economies of scale to cost control efforts, but that high market share generally does not lead to increased cost-consciousness.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 175-183 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Health services research |
Volume | 16 |
Issue number | 2 |
State | Published - 1981 |