ArticleBMJ open2024
Does hospital strategic alliance affect the paediatric service capacity of local hospitals? A difference-in-differences econometric analysis.
Article in BMJ open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHealth inequality caused by the scarcity and uneven distribution of paediatric service resources is common worldwide. The hospital strategic alliance may improve paediatric service capacity and health equity, but this hypothesis has not yielded consistent results. Here, we examine the hospital strategic alliance's effect on local hospitals' paediatric service capacity.
methodsThe paediatric monitoring data of 119 local hospitals from 14 cities between 2015 and 2019 were obtained from the Hubei Pediatric Quality Control Center and the Provincial Statistical Yearbook. We employed the difference-in-differences model with multiple periods. The samples were divided into three groups-close cooperation group, loose-knit cooperation group and control group-differentiated by hierarchical clustering based on the implementation of core initiatives. The number of outpatient visits and the number of inpatient visits were used as the outcomes. The 'available beds' and the 'health personnel per 1000 resident population' were chosen as the control variables.
resultsThe cross-over Treat×Post coefficient was significantly positive at a 1% level in Models 1 and 3, with or without control variables. Specifically, the coefficient for the number of outpatients in Model 2 was significantly positive at the 5% level, supporting Hypothesis H1. Model 4 confirmed a significantly positive cross-over Treat×Post coefficient at a 1% level, and Model 3 showed a larger coefficient than Model 2, indicating greater benefits for the loose-knit cooperation model, supporting Hypothesis H2.
conclusionsThe hospital strategic alliance enhanced the paediatric service capacity of local hospitals. Furthermore, the close cooperation model appears to be a more effective solution for addressing health inequality caused by the scarcity and uneven distribution of paediatric service resources.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.