Public-private partnerships in the Potuguese health sector.

In Portugal, the PPP in the healthcare sector appeared only at the dawn of the new century, with the central feature of including clinical activities within its scope. Currently--except for one hospital--the Portuguese PPP experience can only be assessed in terms of conceptual model and tender processes. The analysis showed that, based on arguments associated with non-contractible investment and ex-post renegotiation opportunities, hospitals with higher technological complexity should exclude clinical activities from the PPP contract, and also that, despite the time-consuming process, the PPP can be considered a success in price competition dimension. The analysis also showed that, assessing the performance of the single PPP hospital in Portugal with two comparable units, there is no evidence that the best or worst results are correlated with the legal status and with the established management model.