Patient Mobility and Public Hospital Waiting Time

Patient hospital choice reform in Norway was introduced in 2001. Waiting times for treatments at hospitals were published, and patients and their physicians were able to select hospitals for services. We develop a model of patient response, and study the empirical impact of the reform. Our data set consists of hospital admission information between 1999 and 2005, as well as hospital and area characteristics, and travel distances between municipalities. The data cover two years before and five years after the reform. From ordered probit regressions, we find that patient mobility responds positively to differences in hospital waiting times. Patient mobility is also influenced by patient, hospital, and area characteristics. JEL Classification: I11, I18