Defining Hospital Markets – An Application to the German Hospital Sector

Arbeitspapier

The correct definition of the product market and of the geographic market is a prerequisite for assessing market structures in antitrust cases. For hospital markets, both dimensions are controversially discussed in the literature. Using data for the German hospital market we aim at elaborating the need for differentiating the product market and at investigating the effects of different thresholds for the delineation of the geographic market based on patient flows. Thereby we contribute to the scarce empirical evidence on the structure of the German hospital market. We find that the German hospital sector is highly concentrated, confirming the results of a singular prior study. Furthermore, using a very general product market definition such as 'acute in-patient care' averages out severe discrepancies that become visible when concentration is considered on the level of individual diagnoses. In contrast, varying thresholds for the definition of the geographic market has only impact on the level of concentration, while the correlation remains high. Our results underline the need for more empirical research concerning the definition of the product market for hospital services.

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-3-86788-529-4
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Ruhr Economic Papers ; No. 469

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms ; Analysis of Health Care Markets
• Subject: hospital market ; concentration ; product market ; geographic market ; Germany

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Hentschker, Corinna ; Schmid, Andreas ; Mennicken, Roman
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI)
• (where): Essen
• (when): 2014

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.4419/86788529
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/92366
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET