Is Healthcare Consolidation the Cure-All for Better Health?
Setup
Health systems are joining hands, swallowing up competitors, acquiring new practices, and growing bigger. Like it or fear it, a tidal wave of consolidation is rocking healthcare, with uncertain impact on access, quality, and pricing. Perhaps mergers and acquisitions will allow providers to operate more efficiently so they can maintain clinical services in rural and other underserved locations. Or they might reduce competition, diminish attention to service value, and release the brakes on what providers can charge. With national healthcare spending comprising 17% of the US GNP, consolidation is also having dramatic implications for the federal budget.
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