HFMA November 12, 2019
- Federal policy is not directly driving hospital consolidation, but it does affect practice acquisition, MedPAC said.
- Hospital consolidation and health plan consolidation are correlated, according to the group.
- The findings led MedPAC to double down on its push for site-neutral payment policies in Medicare.
Federal payment policies are not driving mergers and acquisitions (M&A) between hospitals but are encouraging hospital acquisition of physician practices, according to an analysis by staff of Congress’s primary Medicare advisory body.
Other key conclusions of a hospital M&A analysis by staff of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) include:
- M&A is associated with higher commercial health plan prices.
- How consolidation affects hospital costs and quality is unclear.
- Mergers have little effect on...
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