Prices and levels of complexity of the services performed by private hospitals by the health plan operators - doi: 10.4025/enfoque.v30i2.14453

Abstract

This study assumes that hospitals with a high level of complexity resulting in higher costs when compared with hospitals with low and medium level of complexity. The economic logic that underlies this reasoning is that the resolution of more complex diagnoses requires more investment on both the active and the training of clinical staff and administrative staff. Thus, this study aimed to determine whether prices charged for hospital services by private hospitals by the health plan operators would be able to discriminate among hospitals according to their level of complexity (high, medium and low). We collected data on eight services in fifty-four private hospitals located in São Paulo. The sample is not random and was obtained by analysis of the bills of 648 patients admitted to those hospitals between 2006 and 2007. Discriminant analysis was performed and the results indicate that for the sample object of this study, the prices charged by private hospitals for services rendered to health plan providers do not discriminate against hospitals according to its level of complexity, ie there evidence that, for the selected sample, health plans are not attaching importance to the level of complexity of private hospitals at the time of agreeing on the price of services.