Consolidation, Price, and Health Spending in the US

December 13, 2021

 

Mergers between health systems have increased prices but have not shown consistent improvements in quality of care. However, these mergers are becoming more common, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two new papers in the journal Health Affairs investigate this issue from different angles. One by Christopher Whaley and colleagues probe whether physician income was affected by vertical mergers between 2014 and 2018.

According to the Considering Health Spending newsletter by Health Affairs, “In another article in the December issue, researchers examined state regulation of horizontal market consolidation. Brent Fulton (who wrote an important piece on health care market concentration trends in 2017 for Health Affairs) and colleagues evaluated laws that empower states to be notified of, review, and challenge proposed hospital mergers through administrative processes.”

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(Source: Considering Health Spending, December 13th, 2021)

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