Changes in Hospital Financial Performance after Legal Form Conversion

Abstract

This thesis examines the effect of corporatization, i.e. pure legal form conversion of contributory organizations into joint-stock companies, on financial performance of 77 Czech non-privatized general hospitals during 2001-2011. Using differences-in-differences estimation the effect on overall financial performance was not confirmed. Regarding individual performance components different changes in revenues and costs per inpatient day (relative to non-corporatized hospitals) were recognized after different corporatizations periods. Both revenues and costs measures either increased or decreased after 2003 & 2004 and 2005 corporatization respectively; and were maintained after 2006 & 2007 period. Ambiguous effect of corporatization on financial performance is consistent with the principal-agent theory developed in this thesis. JEL Classification C51, G32, I11, I18, L20, L32 Keywords financial performance, hospitals, panel data analy- sis, Czech Republic Author's e-mail adam.jankura@gmail.com Supervisor's e-mail jana.votapkova@gmail.com 1

This thesis examines the effect of corporatization, i.e. pure legal form conversion of contributory organizations into joint-stock companies, on financial performance of 77 Czech non-privatized general hospitals during 2001-2011. Using differences-in-differences estimation the effect on overall financial performance was not confirmed. Regarding individual performance components different changes in revenues and costs per inpatient day (relative to non-corporatized hospitals) were recognized after different corporatizations periods. Both revenues and costs measures either increased or decreased after 2003 & 2004 and 2005 corporatization respectively; and were maintained after 2006 & 2007 period. Ambiguous effect of corporatization on financial performance is consistent with the principal-agent theory developed in this thesis. JEL Classification C51, G32, I11, I18, L20, L32 Keywords financial performance, hospitals, panel data analy- sis, Czech Republic Author's e-mail adam.jankura@gmail.com Supervisor's e-mail jana.votapkova@gmail.com 1