Savings from public procurement centralization in the healthcare system

We show that the introduction of the procurement centralization within the regional healthcare systems in Italy reduced per capita health expenditure approximatelyt by 2–8%, without affecting the level of health-related public services. Our results also indicate that the effect is persistent after six years, and is not influenced by the coexistence of other organizational models, such as amalgamation and hybrid systems. Finally, we document that the reduction in public expenditure is effective only in areas characterized by poor quality of institutions, indicating that procurement centralization might be an effective tool to reduce corruption-related inefficiencies in the health sector.