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This paper investigates how changes in hospital choice sets affect levels of patient demand for elective hospital care. We exploit a set of reforms in England that opened up the market for publicly-funded patients to private hospitals. Impacts on demand are estimated using variation in distance to these private hospitals, within regions where supply constraints are fixed. We find that the reforms increased demand for publicly-funded procedures. For public hospitals, volumes remained unchanged but waiting times fell. Taken together, our results provide new insights into how individuals make choices about their care and the scope of competition between hospitals.
Authors
Senior Research Economist
Elaine works in the Public Finance and Pensions sector and she joined the IFS in 2009 and became a member of the research staff in 2011.
Associate Director
I completed a PhD at UCL in 2020. My work examines the drivers of variation in the quantity and quality of healthcare provided to different patients.
Working Paper details
- DOI
- 10.1920/wp.ifs.2015.1522
- Publisher
- Institute for Fiscal Studies
Suggested citation
Kelly, E and Stoye, G. (2015). New joints: private providers and rising demand in the English National Health Service. London: Institute for Fiscal Studies. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/new-joints-private-providers-and-rising-demand-english-national-health-service (accessed: 30 June 2024).
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