Study finds cost benefits to system ownership of hospitals—but at a possible risk to quality

Medical Xpress September 25, 2024
Ann Kellett, Texas A&M University

Large hospital systems control eight out of 10 hospital beds in the United States—and they continue to grow—but little has been known until now about how system ownership affects hospital operations.

To learn more, Benjamin Ukert, Ph.D., and Elena Andreyeva, Ph.D., both with the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, worked with colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School and Humana to study more than 100 independent hospitals that entered system ownership. Their findings were published in the Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics.

“Can large health care provider chains increase operating efficiencies while maintaining quality of care?” Ukert said. “This is the key question.”

Ukert said research in other market sectors found that stand-alone establishments gain some benefits...

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