ANALYSIS OF HEALTH CARE RESOURCES CONCENTRATION IN POLAND

Abstract

The aim of this study is to measure the concentration level of health care resources such as the doctors, nurses with midwives, outpatient entities and general hospital beds in Poland. It will also allow to identify inequities to access to these resources and thus also to health care services. The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) was employed to measure the concentration level of the health care resources in Poland. The data for these health care resources spanning all Poland for the period of 2013-2017 were collected. The concentration of health care resources was measured in each of the 16 voivodeships in Poland based on the aggregated data at the powiat level. This approach arises from the limitation in the availability of data, which was collected from the public statistical system. The HHI indices support the assertion that in the period of analysis the entire general hospital beds, doctors and nurses with midwives sectors in Poland have been at average moderately concentrated and thus moderately competitive with the growing tendency to higher concentration and less competitive. The sector of outpatient’s entities appeared to be mainly unconcentrated. Moreover, the concentration of all health care resources is diversified across the voivodeships of Poland and it is quite uneven, which can limit the access to health care services.