COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE PERCEPTION OF THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF HOSPITAL HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION

Integration and strategic alliances of companies represent a rapidly growing phenomenon in all industries. Also the integration and consolidation of healthcare organizations are not unusual themes in professional resources. The specialists observe especially a vertical and horizontal integration of hospitals and its influence to the increase of an effectiveness of healthcare provision. The results of these studies, however, do not conclusively prove the impact of all kinds of integration of hospitals to their efficiency and effectiveness growth. The present article focuses on horizontal integrated hospitals in the Czech Republic and the perception of advantages and disadvantages of integration of the hospitals by hospital managers themselves. The main aim of the research was to answer following research questions: Does the perception of advantages and disadvantages of participation in integration depend on the length of integration´s lifetime? Does the perception of advantages and disadvantages of participation in integration depend on the kind of integration? Regarding the overall view of the trend of integration, hospital managers see integration as promising. Further, the research results revealed that based on the research sample, we cannot unequivocally confirm a statistically significant difference between the two studied types of integration (holding and mergers). A statistically significant difference in the perception of the overall view of the advantages of integration also cannot be confirmed given a length of involvement in holding or merger. Overall, the hospital sees as disadvantages particularly the reduction of autonomy, the increased difficulty of promotion of changes and communication problems. As for the benefits, 93% of hospitals evaluated that the integration gives them a better negotiating ability with suppliers, 80% of hospitals noticed better negotiating ability with health insurance companies and about 80% report that there has been a reduction in costs.