THE IMPACT OF JAPANESE HOSPITAL FINANCING REFORM ON HOSPITAL EFFICIENCY: A DIFFERENCE-IN-DIFFERENCE APPROACH

With Japanese hospital financing reform, a prospective payment system (PPS) has been established for inpatient care to replace the traditional fee-for-service remuneration of hospitals. This paper evaluates the effect of the reform on technical and cost efficiency of local public hospitals. Efficiency is estimated non-parametrically using two-stage data envelopment analysis with bias correction through bootstrap, and parametrically applying stochastic frontier analysis. The descriptive analysis shows that efficiency declines after the introduction of PPS. Difference-in-difference estimations reveal that PPS results in a limited efficiency gain, which might be related to inadequate incentives created by the two-part PPS tariff in Japan.