Competition saves lives, or does it?

PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 634 - 6 Aug 2011

Competition saves lives,or does it?

The introduction of competition into hospitals inEngland led to a 7% reduction in deaths from acutemyocardial infarction, according to a study frominvestigators at the London School of Economics. Thestudy results have been met with some contention;Allyson Pollock, Professor of Public Health at Universityof London says the study is "extremely flawed".

The study, published in the Economic Journal,investigated the effect of the introduction of patientchoice* in 2006. The effect was measured using theincidence of myocardial infarction from 2002-2008 inmore than 430 000 patients.

The results from this study "suggests that creatingincentives for hospitals by introducing competitionalongside providing patients with publicly availableinformation can improve patient outcomes and savelives" says Dr Zach Cooper, a health economist and oneof the study authors. Dr Pollock contests that acutemyocardial infarction is not a measure of hospitalperformance and that better screening and new non-surgical procedures may account for the reduction indeaths. In support of Pollock’s argument, Anna Dixon,director of policy at the King’s Fund says that whilst theresearcher’s analysis is good, "the issue is theinterpretation".

Dr Cooper says that people are welcome to opposethe research on ideological grounds "but it isn’tideological research. It’s rigorous and peer reviewed".* whereby patients were offered a choice of hospital serviceprovider

O’Dowd A. Competition in healthcare can help to save lives, study concludes.BMJ : 1 Aug 2011. Available from: URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d4898 803058424

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 6 Aug 2011 No. 6341173-5503/10/0634-0001/$14.95 © 2010 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved