Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T20:14:45.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

12 - Countervailing Power

Physician Collective Bargaining

from Part III - Monopsony

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2022

Roger D. Blair
Affiliation:
University of Florida
Christine Piette Durrance
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin
Tirza J. Angerhofer
Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina
Get access

Summary

In some situations, it may be advantageous for a government to allow buyers or sellers to cooperate on prices and output to keep a lawful monopolist or a lawful monopsonist, respectively, in check. Although it may seem anticompetitive at first, allowing this behavior is a way to even the playing field and can lead to a socially optimal solution. The parties will find it in their mutual self-interest to select the quantity that maximizes the surplus, which is the competitive quantity. This market structure with actors on both sides acting as a single monopolist is known as bilateral monopoly. In many local markets for physician services, reimbursement rates (payment for services) are dictated by large health insurers who wield monopsony power. In an effort to blunt the buying power enjoyed by the health insurer, physicians have attempted to collectively bargain for the sole purpose of negotiating reimbursement rates. In this chapter, we examine the case for collective bargaining by physicians.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Astor, Will. (2011). Senate OKs Letting Doctors Bargain Collectively. Rochester Business Journal. https://rbj.net/2011/07/01/senate-oks-letting-doctors-bargain-collectively/.Google Scholar
Bowley, A. L. (1928). Bilateral Monopoly. Economic Journal 38: 651658.Google Scholar
Chen, Zhiqi. (2003). Dominant Retailers and the Countervailing-Power Hypothesis. RAND Journal of Economics 34: 612625.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crémer, Jacques, and Riordan, Michael H.. (1987). On Governing Multilateral Transactions with Bilateral Contracts. RAND Journal of Economics 18: 436451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Federal Trade Commission. (2019). Overview of FTC Actions in Health Care Services and Products. www.ftc.gov/system/files/attachments/competition-policy-guidance/overview_health_care_june_2019.pdf.Google Scholar
Hellinger, Fred J., and Young, Gary J.. (2001). An Analysis of Physician Antitrust Exemption Legislation: Adjusting the Balance of Power. Journal of the American Medical Association 286: 8388.Google Scholar
Horn, Henrick, and Wolinsky, Asher. (1988). Bilateral Monopolies and Incentives for Merger. RAND Journal of Economics 19: 408419.Google Scholar
Medical Society of the State of New York. (2019). 2019 Legislative Procedure. www.mssnyenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/LegProgramC91a-2.pdf.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×