Synopses & Reviews
Improving Healthcare: A Dose of Competition systematically examines the American health care system from a competition-oriented perspective. The volume surveys the performance of each major sector of the health care system, and identifies impediments to more effective competition. Improving Healthcare examines such issues as competition v. regulation, public and private sector approaches to health care financing, cross-subsidies, licensure, provider market concentration, financial and clinical integration, payment for performance, quality, pharmacy benefit managers, direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals, certificates of need, mandates, unionization, the significance of organizational status (nonprofit v. for-profit), and the role of antitrust and consumer protection in health care. It offers concrete recommendations to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of the American health care marketplace.
Synopsis
Improving Health Care: A Dose of Competition is a report, jointly issued by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice. The report is the culmination of an almost 2-year project evaluating how competition law and policy (i.e., antitrust and consumer protection law and policy) can be harnessed to improve consumer welfare. The report provides a comprehensive review of competition in the American health care marketplace and informs consumers and policy-makers on a range of issues affecting the cost, quality and accessibility of health care. The report provides six specific recommendations and eleven observations about the application of competition law to health care.
About the Author
David Hyman is Professor of Law and Medicine at the University of Illinois. He served as Special Counsel at the Federal Trade Commission for three years, during which he was project leader for the set of hearings that resulted in this book.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary. - Overview/Background. - Industry Snapshot and Competition Law: Physicians. - Industry Snapshot: Hospitals. - Competition Law: Hospitals. - Industry Snapshot: Insurance and Other Third Party Payment Programs. - Competition Law: Insurers. - Industry Snapshot and Competition Law: Pharmaceuticals. - Miscellaneous Subjects. Appendix A Hearings and Workshop Participants. Appendix B Public Comments. Appendix C Glossary of Health Care Terms and Acronyms. Appendix D Selected Federal Statutes.