Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

Concentration in the Greek private hospital sector: A descriptive analysis

Boutsioli, Zoe (2007) Concentration in the Greek private hospital sector: A descriptive analysis. Health Policy, 82 (2). pp. 212-225. ISSN 0168-8510. (doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2006.09.009) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:2500)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2006.09.009

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, governments all around the world have attempted to boost the role of market and competition in health care industries in order to increase efficiency and reduce costs. The increased competition and the significant implications on costs and prices of health care services resulted in health care industries being transformed. Large firms are merging and acquiring other firms. If this trend continues, few firms will dominate the health care markets. In this study, I use the simple concentration ratio (CR) for the largest 4, 8 and 20 companies to measure the concentration of Greek private hospitals during the period 1997-2004. Also, the Gini coefficient for inequality is used. For the two different categories of hospitals used (a) general and neuropsychiatric and (b) obstetric/gynaecological it is evident that the top four firms of the first category accounted for 43% of sales in 1997, and 52% in 2004, while the four largest firms of the second category accounted for almost 83% in 1997, and 81 % in 2004. Also, the Gini coefficient increases over the 8-year period examined from 0.69 in 1997 to 0.82 in 2004. It explains that the market of the private health care services becomes less equal in the sense that fewer private hospitals and clinics hold more and more of the share of the total sales. From a cross-industry analysis it is clear that the private hospital sector has the highest concentration rate. Finally, it appears that the market structure of the private hospitals in Greece resembles more closely to an oligopoly rather than a monopolistic competition, since very few firms dominate the market.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2006.09.009
Uncontrolled keywords: private hospital sector; market concentration; market share; Greece
Subjects: R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research
Depositing User: Suzanne Duffy
Date Deposited: 19 Mar 2008 18:28 UTC
Last Modified: 04 Feb 2022 14:16 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/2500 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.