Hierarchical Medical Cooperative Price Decision of County-Township Hospitals in Coastal Areas of China.

Ma, J., Zhang, R., Huang, D., Chen, J., and Song, J., 2019. Hierarchical medical cooperative price decision of county-township hospitals in coastal areas of China. In: Gong, D.; Zhu, H., and Liu, R. (eds.), Selected Topics in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 94, pp. 908–912. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. This study aims to compare the price-decision between two different types of hospital systems in coastal cities of China. Generally, the difference of medical choice of patients is caused by different factors. Because of economic and social differences, residents in coastal areas usually afford to go to hospitals which fulfill their demands compared with inland areas; therefore, different types of hospitals will make each price decision to maximize the profits. However, in the context of the medical services- and- interests community (MSIC) mode, in order to examine how the two types' hospitals how to make price decisions so as to maximize the total revenue of both sides, Stackelberg game model is employed. Results show that the centralized decision-making mechanism is more profits than the decentralized method. Furthermore, a case study is carried out with the hospital system of a coastal city in China to highlight the topic, which will promote to the reform of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]