There is ongoing debate about the effect of ownership on hospital performance as regards afficiency and care quality. This chapter proposes an analyseis of the differences in productivity and efficiency between French public and private hospitals. In France, public and private hospitals do not only differ in their objectives. They are also subject to different rules as regards investments and human ressources management. In addition, they were financed according to different payment schemes until 2004 : a global budget system was used for public hospitals, while private hospitals were paid on a fee-for-service basis. Since 2004, a prospective payment system (PPS° with fixedpayment per stay in a given DRG is gradually introduced for both provate and public hospitals.
