UNH Center for Studying Healthcare Markets

The University of New Hampshire’s Center for Studying Healthcare Markets is a new initiative aimed at analyzing local trends in healthcare market consolidation and their various effects on consumers. 

This four-year pilot program, funded by the New Hampshire Health Care Consumer Protection Trust Fund, has three primary aims:

• Evaluating Healthcare Market Trends – We will use data-driven methodologies to assess changes over time in hospital, physician, and insurance market consolidation in New Hampshire compared to surrounding areas and describe the impact of those trends on local healthcare prices and quality of care.
• Conducting Original Consumer-Focused Research – We will conduct several new research projects to examine the effects of market consolidation on various understudied outcomes like service line availability, health outcomes, and nonprofit community benefits.
• Supporting State Agencies with Data Analytics – We will utilize our expanding data infrastructure to provide insights to New Hampshire agencies as they shape policy related to healthcare market consolidation.

policy briefs

The Center for Studying Healthcare Markets has published its first policy brief, Hospital Market Concentration in New Hampshire. This brief describes how the degree of market concentration is measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HH) and how it is applied to local hospital markets. It examines the variation within New Hampshire and how the degree of market concentration in the state's local markets has changed over time. The brief concludes by comparing the levels and trends of New Hampshire's hospital market concentration to surrounding states and the U.S. overall.

Contact:

Director Bradley Herring
Forrest D. McKerley Chair
of Health Economics
bradley.herring@unh.edu