Effects of market structure and patient choice on hospital quality for planned patients

Effects of market structure and patient choice on hospital quality for planned patients In 2006, patients were given the right to be offered a choice of at least four hospitals and this was later extended to the right to choose any qualified provider. The study used a quasi difference in differences strategy to investigate whether the relaxation of constraints on patient choice, led to larger changes in quality for hospitals with more rivals. Hospital quality is measured by whether a patient has an emergency hospital readmission within 28 days of discharge after their index treatment. Centre for Health Economics