The Positive Role of Profit in the Field of Health Care
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November 2014 Health Care Series The Positive Role of Profit in the Field of Health Care by Yanick Labrie Are these beliefs justified? This Economic However, the revenues of privately run medic- Few topics of public Note will shine a light on this question, based al facilities depend on the number of pa- on the experiences of countries in Europe. In tients they treat. In order to attract clients, debate elicit more these countries, the private sector plays a they have to maintain their reputations. They emotion in people than leading role within health care systems that, have to adapt their practices to the expecta- the role of the private like Canada’s, are based on universal cover- tions and preferences of patients and con- age, but where patients can choose which tinually look for new and better ways of re- sector in health care. facilities will treat them, and where public sponding to their needs. In a competitive It is often argued that funding follows the patient. environment where the money follows the profit has no place in patient, hospitals that cut on service quality Does the profit motive encourage drive away their clients and simply cannot this sector, especially “the cutting of corners”? make a profit. when it comes to hospital care. Some As both experience and economic theory This popular belief is also contradicted by teach us, private companies must necessarily numerous foreign experiences. La Ribera people think that the offer goods and services that are valued by University Hospital in the Valencia region of profit motive would consumers if they want to prosper. The profit Spain is an eloquent example of a medical encourage “the cutting motive pushes them to do their best to satisfy facility run by a private company that ensures their clients. A company that does not man- its profitability by continually improving the of corners,” that profit age to do this will see its market share quality of its services. It attracts patients from would add to the cost eroded, to the benefit of competitors. all over Spain, who are taken care of at no of providing a service, charge regardless of income level.1 A survey According to a widely held belief, however, showed that 91% of patients are satisfied with or that for-profit health care is a “social” sector where this eco- the care received and 95% would choose this medical facilities would nomic logic does not apply and where the hospital again if they needed treatment.2 The avoid the more complex profit motive does not serve the public inter- hospital rewards its employees with perform- est. Health care facilities administered by ance bonuses and maintains a motivating cases or those private companies would therefore likely work environment, as shown by an absentee- perceived to be “less offer lower quality services and abuse vulner- ism rate of 2.5%, well below that of public 3 profitable.” able patients in order to amass the maximum hospitals (see Table 1). possible profits. This Economic Note was prepared by Yanick Labrie, an economist with the Montreal Economic Institute who holds a master’s degree in economics (Université de Montréal). The MEI’s Health Care Series aims to examine the extent to which freedom of choice and private initiative lead to improvements in the quality and efficiency of health care services for all patients. The Positive Role of Profit in the Field of Health Care iedm.org Following the success of La Ribera Univer- sity Hospital, nine other districts in the Va- Table 1 — La Ribera University Hospital, Valencia, Spain lencia and Madrid regions decided to entrust Under private management since 1999 the administration of health services to the Indicator Performance same private group, Ribera Salud. This or- ganization manages to avoid waiting lists in Cost / Public funding Around 26% lower than comparable public hospitals its hospitals despite receiving 26% less public (hospitals run by Ribera Salud) in Valencia funding than other comparable public hospi- Wait times Emergency rooms: Less than 60 minutes to see a doctor, tals. Emergency room patients are seen by a (hospitals run by Ribera Salud) compared to an average of 131 minutes in public hospitals doctor within less than 60 minutes, com- in Valencia pared to an average of 131 minutes in public Elective surgeries: 32 days on average, compared hospitals in Valencia. The average wait time to 60 or 90 days in public hospitals for elective surgery is 32 days, which is two Patient satisfaction 91% satisfied by services received to three times shorter than in the region’s 95% hospital loyalty public hospitals.4 Working conditions Performance bonuses Absenteeism rate of 2.5%, well below that of Does profit add to the cost public hospitals of providing a service? Sources: Neelam Sekhri, Richard Feachem and Angela Ni, “Public-Private Integrated Partnerships Demonstrate Some critics argue that it would cost society the Potential to Improve Health Care Access, Quality, and Efficiency,” Health Affairs, Vol. 30, No. 8, 2011, pp. 1502-1503; World Health Organization, “Spanish Health District Tests a New Public-Private Mix,” Bulletin of more to fund services provided by private the World Health Organization, Vol. 89, No. 12, 2009, pp. 892-893; European Commission, Health and Economics companies, insofar as profit is added to the Analysis for an Evaluation of the Public Private Partnerships in Health Care Delivery across EU — Annexes, 2013, other costs of providing services.5 The error pp. 97-110. here consists in overlooking the role of competition and in as- One of these groups, Rhön Klinikum, owns ten hospitals, in- suming that costs are inflexible and are the same for all medical cluding a university hospital made up of two pavilions in the facilities. Yet the usefulness of the profit motive is precisely that neighbouring cities of Giessen and Marburg. Operating with it pushes private providers to increase their efficiency—that is, substantial deficits when it was purchased in 2006, this 2,262- to reduce costs for a given volume of services of a certain qual- bed hospital quickly returned to profitability after the company ity—by doing a better job of allocating available resources. invested 547 million euros to modernize its infrastructure and build a new cancer centre.10 The company distinguishes itself today by its ability to limit the outbreak and spread of hospital- In a competitive environment acquired infections in its facilities. The search for efficiency where the money follows the patient, gains, then, does not happen to the detriment of patient safety. hospitals that cut on service quality On the contrary, if the company did not provide high-quality drive away their clients and simply care, its investments simply could not be profitable. cannot make a profit. Do for-profit hospitals neglect the “less profitable” cases? The experience of Germany is particularly telling in this regard. In the early 1990s, many public hospitals were faced with recur- In comparisons of the public sector and the private sector, we ring deficits, and their infrastructure was gradually deteriorat- often encounter the stereotype of the private sector concentrat- ing. It is at this moment that restrictions preventing hospital ing on the less difficult cases, and on patients with above- privatization were lifted in several Länder,6 leading the number average incomes. However, in a competitive context where hos- of private hospitals to increase by 95% from 1991 to 2012.7 New pitals are remunerated based on the complexity of pathologies, management techniques were then applied, entailing cost reduc- for-profit medical facilities have an interest in attracting the dif- tions and significant efficiency improvements for these hospi- ficult cases, especially insofar as they can treat them more effi- tals.8 ciently and less expensively than their competitors. A number of private groups stand out in the German health care In Germany for example, private hospitals treat patients who are system, which includes nearly 700 private for-profit hospitals.9 older on average and who have more serious health conditions 2 iedm.org The Positive Role of Profit in the Field of Health Care than those in public hospitals. The data also show that private for-profit hospitals are Table 2 — Saint Göran Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden better-equipped to treat difficult cases and Under private management since 1999 more complex pathologies. Moreover, a lar- Indicator Performance ger proportion of beds in these hospitals are reserved for emergency room and intensive Public funding Around 10% lower than that of comparable public care patients.11 hospitals in the county Wait times Emergency rooms: 42 minutes on average to see a doctor, In France also, private facilities treat all pa- versus 57 minutes in comparable public hospitals tients and do not discriminate on the basis of income or the seriousness of cases. Private Patient satisfaction 90% of patients are satisfied with the services received hospitals and clinics have long been inte- Working conditions Highest employee satisfaction index and lowest grated into the public system and established absenteeism rate due to illness among Stockholm in all regions of France, and even more so in hospitals those regions where average incomes are lower.12 Private medical facilities treat the Sources: Randolph K. Quaye, “Is the Swedish Welfare State in Retreat? Current Trends in Swedish Health Care,” beneficiaries of Couverture médicale uni- International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 20,