The effect of publishing hospital charges on healthcare costs: Evidence from Singapore

Parinduri, Rasyad (2012): The effect of publishing hospital charges on healthcare costs: Evidence from Singapore.

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of publishing hospital charges on healthcare costs. We compare hospital charges before and after Singapore's Ministry of Health started publishing the statistics of hospital charges on its website in the late 2003. We do not find evidence of a decrease in healthcare costs. However, we find some evidence of an increase in cost dispersion, a decrease in patients' length of stay at hospitals, and an increase in hospital care cost per day.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: hospital charges publication, healthcare costs, cost dispersion, Singapore
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I11 - Analysis of Health Care Markets; L - Industrial Organization > L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance > L10 - General; D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty > D83 - Search ; Learning ; Information and Knowledge ; Communication ; Belief ; Unawareness

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