Study indicates improved health care value cannot be achieved by hospital mergers and acquisitions alone

Medical Xpress December 30, 2024
American College of Surgeons

Mergers and acquisitions of U.S. hospitals and health systems rarely improve the quality of care delivered or result in lower health care costs and prices, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

The study, a systematic review of hundreds of published studies, comes amid accelerating health care integration, sometimes called consolidation. Nearly 70% of U.S. hospitals are now affiliated with a health system.

“Proponents of health care integration have claimed it controls costs and enhances care quality,” said lead study author Bhagwan Satiani, MD, MBA, FACS, professor of surgery emeritus at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio. “But we found that evidence is lacking that integration alone is an effective...

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