Merger of Municipal Hospitals and Managerial Efficiency: Study of Three Cases
Author: Chin-Cher Chen
Abstract / Chinese PDF Download
This paper focuses on one of the major medical reforms－the public hospitalmergers, that have been carried out in Taipei City, Kaohsiung City and TaipeiCounty. Since 2003 the three merger cases emerged almost simultaneously,although the respective processes of decision-making differ and the modes oforganizational restructuring also vary. Case studies and in-depth interviews areadopted as the methods by which empirical data was collected for this study.Based on the interviews, this study attempts to explain the variations betweensmall-scale incremental changes and large-scale incremental changes. This seriesof local public hospital innovations occurred domestically and included KaohsiungMunicipal United Hospital, Taipei County Hospital and Taipei City Hospital. Themergers all point to the importance of economics of scale and medical qualityimprovements as a response to the institutional changes and market competition.This study suggests that the model of hospital merger could be an innovativealternative to the status quo. The local public hospital reform in this paper can bedubbed as “New Wine in Old Bottles”.