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Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Facing a fragile financial situation, the Portuguese governments have been implementing
reforms to offset the increasing healthcare costs, which are creating an unsustainable
situation for the National Health Service. Attempting to cut expenses
in the health sector, a number of fusions between public hospitals were employed.
Using data between 2004 and 2011, for thirty National Health Service hospitals,
twelve of which are merged, this thesis investigates the existence of fusion effects on
the financial performance and on the efficiency of these institutions.
The data is analysed using a Differences-in-Differences estimator with Fixed Effects.
The treatment effect on the financial performance and on the efficiency is first
analysed through two separate equations, based on a translog function, and then
through a quantile regression of the same equations.
While the literature does not have a strong standing on hospital mergers, it seems to
offer more evidence against than in favour of it. The results found by this study go
in that direction, as no significant merger effects on either the financial performance
or the efficiency of the hospitals were observed.
Description
Keywords
Portuguese hospitals Hospital mergers Health Expenditure Efficiency