Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Integrated delivery networks (IDNs) and medical homes are all the rage among health wonks. The ability for patients to receive holistic are from multispecialty practice teams seems like it would be beneficial. While quality of care may (or may not) improve with more integrated care, provider consolidation may have one downside: higher prices. An NBER…
An interesting report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation summarizes the literature describing the effect of hospital concentration in a market on prices and quality. The general consensus from the literature is the following: Increases in hospital market concentration lead to increases in the price of hospital care Hospital mergers in concentrated markets generally lead…