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What happens when hospitals merge?
The same thing happens when hospitals merge or acquire other hospitals. These deals often increase prices and they don’t improve care quality; patients simply pay more for the same or worse care. Mergers and acquisitions can negatively affect clinician morale as well.
Who is buying Baylor Carrollton?
Effective March 1, 2020, Baylor Scott & White Health will no longer operate a 237 licensed-bed hospital in Carrollton, Texas. The Dallas-based system will transfer operations of Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Carrollton to Sana Healthcare, also based in Dallas.
Why hospitals should not merge?
Bigger But Not Better: Hospital Mergers Increase Costs and Do Not Improve Quality. The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Director of the Bureau of Economics recently stated that when hospitals merge they face less competition and charge as much 40 to 50 per cent higher prices than if they had not merged or consolidated.
Are hospital mergers good for patients?
The benefits of mergers allow hospitals to create connected networks of care and keep the focus where it belongs: on improving care for the patient.” In addition, integration can ensure that local access to care and breadth of services are maintained for patients, and in some cases expanded.
Why have so many hospitals merged?
Many of the purported benefits of hospital mergers—including coordination of patient care, sharing information through electronic medical records, population health management, risk-based contracting, standardizing care, and joint purchasing—can often be achieved through alternative means that do not impair competition …
Who regulates hospital mergers?
The Federal Trade Commission enforces the antitrust laws in health care markets to prevent anticompetitive conduct that would deprive consumers of the benefits of competition.
Who owns Baylor University Medical Center?
Baylor Scott & White Health
Baylor University Medical Center (Baylor Dallas or BUMC), part of Baylor Scott & White Health, is a not-for-profit hospital in Dallas, Texas. It has 1,025 licensed beds and is one of the major centers for patient care, medical training and research in North Texas.
When did Baylor merger with Scott and White?
2013
Baylor Health Care System and Scott & White Healthcare in 2013 completed a merger forming the largest not-for-profit health system in Texas with more than $8 billion in assets and about $6 billion in annual revenue.
How do hospital mergers affect providers?
Even when a hospital merges with a hospital in a different geographic area, some studies suggest that the merger can impact competition and prices. One analysis found that prices at hospitals acquired by out‐of‐market hospital systems increase by about 17% more than unacquired, stand‐alone hospitals.
How do hospital mergers affect patients?
Notably, the analysis found the decline in patient-experience scores occurred mainly in hospitals acquired by hospitals that already had a poor patient-experience score—a finding that suggests acquisitions facilitate the spread of low quality care but not of high quality care.
Do hospital mergers reduce costs?
In addition, it found mergers decrease costs and are associated with a statistically significant 2.3% reduction in annual operating expenses, and revenues per admission at acquired hospitals declined by a statistically significant 3.5% relative to non-merging hospitals, suggesting that “savings that accrue to merging …
Why do hospitals consolidate?
Healthcare consolidation improves integration of care and reduces duplication of clinical services. Hospital mergers can lead to operating cost reductions for acquired hospitals of 15%−30%. For Medicare, hospital concentration increases costs by increasing the quantity of care rather than the price of care.