Hospitals scoop up physician practices, driving prices up [View all]

Source: msn/Axios

10h


Hospitals are steadily buying small physician practices and, in the process, driving up the price of care, a new National Bureau of Economic Research study shows.

Why it matters: It's the latest evidence of consolidation in health care that's left more than three-quarters of U.S. doctors employed by health systems or corporations.

The pace has quickened in recent years, driven by factors like declining reimbursements for some specialties and expenses like electronic health record systems that have left small independent practices struggling.

But that's brought a decline in competition that raises antitrust concerns.

"These are thousands and thousands of very small transactions and the question is: What do you do about them?" said Yale economist and study co-author Zack Cooper.

"[The Federal Trade Commission] clearly do not have the resources to block every acquisition of three physicians."

By the numbers: Between 2008 and 2016, the researchers found the the share of private physician practices acquired by a hospital in the U.S. rose by 71.5%.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/hospitals-scoop-up-physician-practices-driving-prices-up/ar-AA1IY13V

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Link to National Bureau of Economic Research REPORT - Are Hospital Acquisitions of Physician Practices Anticompetitive?