Competition or coordination in hospital markets with unionised labour.

This paper study labour market responses to hospital mergers. The market consists of two hospitals providing horizontally and vertically differentiated services. Hospitals compete either in price and quality or just in quality (non-price competition). To provide medical care, hospitals employ health care workers (e.g., physicians, nurses). The workers collectively bargain wages either at a central level, firm level or plant level. Anticipating wage responses, hospitals decide whether or not to merge. The main finding is that the bargaining structure, the nature of competition and the patient copayment rate have a crucial impact on the profitability of hospital mergers.