COMPETITION AMONG HOSPITALS AND ITS MEASUREMENT: THEORY AND A CASE STUDY

In recent years, the studies related to the healthcare market, place emphasis on the importance of healthcare competition in terms of high quality services and decreases in the amount of healthcare expenses. To this end, many economists and policy makers recommend different strategies related to competition among hospitals and health systems in the healthcare market. In this paper, to measure the competition level of healthcare market, we use such factors as; determination of competitors and services delivered by hospitals, determination of market scope and the measurement method of basic competition, demonstrating the role of insurance companies. In this respect, HHI index exhibiting the concentration in local level is used in order to measure competition level among hospitals. Consequently, it is concluded that an oligopoly structure exists in hospital market.