Horizontal integration of hospitals - Does it have an impact on their effectiveness?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to discuss the effect of horizontal integration of hospitals on efficiency of hospitals. Whereas Czech hospitals use about 50% of all expenditure on healthcare, it is necessary to focus on their thriftiness and efficiency. Hospitals must work with limited economic resources and it is essential to know how to use these resources efficiently. In the last two decades we can see strong trends of hospitals integration. We now have five holdings and the last one was founded in January 2015. Annual reports were used for analysis from each hospital from 2004 to 2013, and also information from the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic. Parts of the annual reports include economic and also non-economic results. This data was statistically analyzed and examined according to whether there was a significant improvement in values after integration. For example, a linear trend was used for evaluation by using a coefficient correlation and a t-test was used for statistical significance. One of the limitations of the research was that the research was based on only two specific samples existing in the Czech Republic. Other holdings have either a very short or a very long period of being integrated and therefore it is very difficult to find specific comparable information. Other limitations of this research were the choice of appropriate financial and also non-financial indicators. Results from analysis were compared with results of other published studies in other countries. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.