This policy-oriented paper examines competition among the hospitals in Turkey, and the most recent regulatory and planning public policies for a period in which a surge happened in the number of private hospitals nationwide after the inception of a Health Transformation Program (HTP) 2003-2013. The paper explores the recent growth path of the hospital industry with the focus on the health reforms, regulations and planning practices in the delivery of health care. Employing panel dataset on hospitals and local market characteristics, the paper comparatively investigates the change in the competitive and regulatory environment in the pre-reforms and post-reforms periods. The empirical analysis sheds light on the effects of pricing and entry licensing regulations on the provision of healthcare. In terms of equity in access to health care, this research has also potential to provide evidence on the association between the geographical variations in the distribution of hospitals across the nation and the differences in health outcomes among the regions of Turkey.
Keywords: Universal Health Care, Health Care Reforms, and Health Care Access