We study how delivery times and prices for hospital medical devices respond to the introduction of centralized procurement. Our identification strategy leverages a legislative change in Italy that mandated centralized purchases for a sub-set of...
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We study how delivery times and prices for hospital medical devices respond to the introduction of centralized procurement. Our identification strategy leverages a legislative change in Italy that mandated centralized purchases for a sub-set of devices. The statutory centralization generated a reduction in prices and an increase in delivery times for centralized purchases relative to non-centralized purchases. We use data on quantities and on suppliers to discuss the mechanisms potentially underlying our findings.
