Do waiting times reduce hospital costs?
Using a sample of 137 hospitals over the period 1998-2002 in the English National Health Service, we estimate the elasticity of hospital costs with respect to waiting times. Our cross-sectional and panel-data results suggest that at the sample mean (103 days), waiting times have no significant effect on hospitals' costs or, at most, a positive one. If significant, the elasticity of cost with respect to waiting time from our cross-sectional estimates is in the range 0.4-1. The elasticity is still positive but lower in our fixed-effects specifications (0.2-0.4). In all specifications, the effect of waiting time on cost is non-linear, suggesting a U-shaped relationship between hospital costs and waiting times. However, the level of waiting time which minimises total costs is always below ten days.
Siciliani
Luigi
L
Department of Economics and Related Studies, and Centre for Health Economics, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK. ls24@york.ac.uk
Stanciole
Anderson
A
Jacobs
Rowena
R
D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017721:Hospital Costs; D006801:Humans; D013222:State Medicine / Q000191:economics*; D006113:United Kingdom; D014850:Waiting Lists