The Economics of US Healthcare: Competition, Innovation, Regulation, and Organizations


Book Description

This eBook was born out of a general diagnosis that the US healthcare sector is not only one of the most studied industries in economics but also one of the areas where the field can make the most progress. Indeed, the American healthcare industry has many features that are particularly attractive to economists. It is one of (if not the) largest sectors of the US economy, accounting for almost 20% of the national Gross Domestic Product and employing tens of millions of workers. Firms range from large conglomerates to small providers, and there is strong government-private sector interaction, with federal, state, and local governments shaping policy. The industry also has many failures, is undergoing tremendous change, and produces a wealth of data (even if not always perfectly formatted). The field, however, is far from saturated. Healthcare is such a complex and intricate sector, one where details matter so much that it is almost its own subfield of economics. These high barriers to entry prevent scholars from researching healthcare topics and weaken the cross-pollination of ideas, an increasing hallmark of many other areas. This is problematic, not the least, because any major advances in healthcare economics literally save lives (and billions of dollars). This project aimed to help lower these barriers and kick-start broader collaborations.




Economic Regulation and Its Reform


Book Description

The past thirty years have witnessed a transformation of government economic intervention in broad segments of industry throughout the world. Many industries historically subject to economic price and entry controls have been largely deregulated, including natural gas, trucking, airlines, and commercial banking. However, recent concerns about market power in restructured electricity markets, airline industry instability amid chronic financial stress, and the challenges created by the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which allowed commercial banks to participate in investment banking, have led to calls for renewed market intervention. Economic Regulation and Its Reform collects research by a group of distinguished scholars who explore these and other issues surrounding government economic intervention. Determining the consequences of such intervention requires a careful assessment of the costs and benefits of imperfect regulation. Moreover, government interventions may take a variety of forms, from relatively nonintrusive performance-based regulations to more aggressive antitrust and competition policies and barriers to entry. This volume introduces the key issues surrounding economic regulation, provides an assessment of the economic effects of regulatory reforms over the past three decades, and examines how these insights bear on some of today’s most significant concerns in regulatory policy.




Competition in the Health Care Sector


Book Description

Source of the debate on how much competition and regulation are necessary in the health care industry. This is a reprint of proceedings from a 1977 conference.




For-Profit Enterprise in Health Care


Book Description

"[This book is] the most authoritative assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of recent trends toward the commercialization of health care," says Robert Pear of The New York Times. This major study by the Institute of Medicine examines virtually all aspects of for-profit health care in the United States, including the quality and availability of health care, the cost of medical care, access to financial capital, implications for education and research, and the fiduciary role of the physician. In addition to the report, the book contains 15 papers by experts in the field of for-profit health care covering a broad range of topicsâ€"from trends in the growth of major investor-owned hospital companies to the ethical issues in for-profit health care. "The report makes a lasting contribution to the health policy literature." â€"Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.




The Politics Industry


Book Description

Leading political innovation activist Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter bring fresh perspective, deep scholarship, and a real and actionable solution, Final Five Voting, to the grand challenge of our broken political and democratic system. Final Five Voting has already been adopted in Alaska and is being advanced in states across the country. The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens. Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. In The Politics Industry, business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation. The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION The authors will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Institute for Political Innovation.




Handbook of Innovation Policy Impact


Book Description

Innovation underpins competitiveness, is crucial to addressing societal challenges, and its support has become a major public policy goal. But what really works in innovation policy, and why? This Handbook, compiled by leading experts in the field, is the first comprehensive guide to understanding the logic and effects of innovation polices. The Handbook develops a conceptualisation and typology of innovation policies, presents meta-evaluations for 16 key innovation policy instruments and analyses evidence on policy-mix. For each policy instrument, underlying rationales and examples are presented, along with a critical analysis of the available impact evidence. Providing access to primary sources of impact analysis, the book offers an insightful assessment of innovation policy practice and its evaluation.




Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation - Intersections between Public Health, Intellectual Property and Trade


Book Description

This study has emerged from an ongoing program of trilateral cooperation between WHO, WTO and WIPO. It responds to an increasing demand, particularly in developing countries, for strengthened capacity for informed policy-making in areas of intersection between health, trade and IP, focusing on access to and innovation of medicines and other medical technologies.




Regulation, Innovation and Competition in Pharmaceutical Markets


Book Description

This book explores the fundamental and inextricable relationship between regulation, intellectual property, competition law, and public health in pharmaceutical markets, examining their interconnections and the delicate balance between the various interests and policy goals at stake. Although pharmaceutical markets are heavily regulated and subject to close antitrust scrutiny, there is a constant requirement for existing rules and policies to tackle a number of persistent, complex issues. The variety of anti-competitive practices occurring in this sector, the worrying rise in drug prices, and major, far-reaching concerns over the accessibility of medicines are sources of frequent controversy in academic and policy debates. Understanding the unique features and dynamics of the pharmaceutical industry requires a tailored and multifaceted approach. The study is enhanced by the adoption of a comparative perspective, tracing convergence and divergence between EU and US systems through the analysis of relevant applicable rules, significant cases, and policy choices. Pursuant to this rigorous approach, the book provides an original and thought-provoking critique of the challenges of regulating pharmaceutical markets.




Handbook of Industrial Organization


Book Description

Handbook of Industrial Organization Volume 4 highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters. Each chapter is written by an international board of authors. Part of the renowned Handbooks in Economics series Chapters are contributed by some of the leading experts in their fields A source, reference and teaching supplement for industrial organizations or industrial economists




The Oxford Handbook of Health Economics


Book Description

The Oxford Handbook of Health Economics provides an accessible and authoritative guide to health economics, intended for scholars and students in the field, as well as those in adjacent disciplines including health policy and clinical medicine. The chapters stress the direct impact of health economics reasoning on policy and practice, offering readers an introduction to the potential reach of the discipline. Contributions come from internationally-recognized leaders in health economics and reflect the worldwide reach of the discipline. Authoritative, but non-technical, the chapters place great emphasis on the connections between theory and policy-making, and develop the contributions of health economics to problems arising in a variety of institutional contexts, from primary care to the operations of health insurers. The volume addresses policy concerns relevant to health systems in both developed and developing countries. It takes a broad perspective, with relevance to systems with single or multi-payer health insurance arrangements, and to those relying predominantly on user charges; contributions are also included that focus both on medical care and on non-medical factors that affect health. Each chapter provides a succinct summary of the current state of economic thinking in a given area, as well as the author's unique perspective on issues that remain open to debate. The volume presents a view of health economics as a vibrant and continually advancing field, highlighting ongoing challenges and pointing to new directions for further progress.