ReviewThe International journal of health planning and management2018
Do private hospitals outperform public hospitals regarding efficiency, accessibility, and quality of care in the European Union? A literature review.
Review in The International journal of health planning and management, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of the accessibility, acceptability, safety, efficiency, clinical effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of private cataract and orthopedic surgery clinics.International journal of technology assessment in health care · 2023Pooled it
- Do patients scheduled for inguinal hernia repair express a preference for the repair technique? What questions do they frequently ask?Hernia : the journal of hernias and abdominal wall surgery · 2026Observational
- Turning to Service Users for the Understanding of Current and Future Mental Health Services in the Development Process of Research and Practice: A Qualitative Study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- The role of context in strategic human resource management within private hospitals in Ethiopia, compared to public hospitals.Frontiers in health services · 2026Article
- Balancing efficiency and clinical quality in dialysis centers: Insights from a nationwide DEA study in Taiwan.PloS one · 2026Article
- Adherence of Greek gastroenterologists to established quality indicators in gastrointestinal endoscopy.Annals of gastroenterology · 2026Article
- Bridging the diagnostic gap: diagnostic capacity and pediatric quality of care in LMICs.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Physicians' Attitudes Toward Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: Mixed Methods Survey and Interview Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Hospital Ownership Type Correlated With Investments in Nursing Services: Evidence From Illinois.Medical care · 2025Article
- Financial performance of hospitals in Europe - a scoping review.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Glycemic Control and Quality of Life Among People with Type 1 Diabetes: Relationships with Insulin Therapy and Carbohydrate Counting.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Article
- Regional disparities in the distribution of public and private healthcare facilities in South Korea.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Impact of provincial economic development levels on public-private hospital co-development in China: an empirical analysis.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Comparing the Quality of Direct-to-Consumer Telemedicine Dominated and Delivered by Public and Private Sector Platforms in China: Standardized Patient Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- 'Two sides of the same coin'? A longitudinal analysis evaluating whether financial austerity accelerated NHS privatisation in England 2013-2020.BMJ public health · 2024Article
- Patient outcomes, efficiency, and adverse events for elective hip and knee replacement in private and NHS hospitals: a population-based cohort study in England.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2024Article
- Comparison of the market share of public and private hospitals under different Medical Alliances: an interrupted time-series analysis in rural China.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Evaluating the decentralisation of the Spanish healthcare system: a data envelopment analysis approach.BMJ open · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
European countries have enhanced the scope of private provision within their health care systems. Privatizing services have been suggested as a means to improve access, quality, and efficiency in health care. This raises questions about the relative performance of private hospitals compared with public hospitals. Most systematic reviews that scrutinize the performance of the private hospitals originate from the United States. A systematic overview for Europe is nonexisting. We fill this gap with a systematic realist review comparing the performance of public hospitals to private hospitals on efficiency, accessibility, and quality of care in the European Union. This review synthesizes evidence from Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Greece, Austria, Spain, and Portugal. Most evidence suggests that public hospitals are at least as efficient as or are more efficient than private hospitals. Accessibility to broader populations is often a matter of concern in private provision: Patients with higher social-economic backgrounds hold better access to private hospital provision, especially in private parallel systems such as the United Kingdom and Greece. The existing evidence on quality of care is often too diverse to make a conclusive statement. In conclusion, the growth in private hospital provision seems not related to improvements in performance in Europe. Our evidence further suggests that the private (for-profit) hospital sector seems to react more strongly to (financial) incentives than other provider types. In such cases, policymakers either should very carefully develop adequate incentive structures or be hesitant to accommodate the growth of the private hospital sector.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.