“In any industry, market consolidation limits competition, choice and access to goods and services, all of which drive up prices. But there’s another — often overlooked — consequence. Market leaders that grow too powerful become complacent. And, when that happens, innovation dies.

“Healthcare offers a prime example. De facto monopolies abound in almost every healthcare sector: Hospitals and health systems, drug and device manufacturers, and doctors backed by private equity. The result is that U.S. healthcare has become a conglomerate of monopolies.

“For two decades, this intense concentration of power has inflicted harm on patients, communities and the health of the nation. For most of the 21st century, medical costs have risen faster than overall inflation, America’s life expectancy (and overall health) has stagnated, and the pace of innovation has slowed to a crawl …

“[M]erged hospitals and powerful health systems have raised the price, lowered the quality and decreased the convenience of American medicine.”

According to Pearl, 40 of our largest healthcare systems combined own 2,073 different hospitals. That’s approximately one-third of all emergency and acute care facilities in the country.

The top 10 healthcare systems combined own one-sixth of all hospitals and have an annual net revenue of $226.7 billion.

While there are all sorts of antitrust and anticompetitive laws on the books, “legal loopholes and intense lobbying continue to spur hospital consolidation,” Pearl says. As a result of all this consolidating, hundreds of communities have just one option for inpatient care.

This means there’s no competition in terms of pricing, so prices tend to go up, while the quality of care often declines since patients can’t complain and go elsewhere.

There is A Better Way

“In any industry, market consolidation limits competition, choice and access to goods and services, all of which drive up prices. But there’s another — often overlooked — consequence. Market leaders that grow too powerful become complacent. And, when that happens, innovation dies.

“Healthcare offers a prime example. De facto monopolies abound in almost every healthcare sector: Hospitals and health systems, drug and device manufacturers, and doctors backed by private equity. The result is that U.S. healthcare has become a conglomerate of monopolies.

“For two decades, this intense concentration of power has inflicted harm on patients, communities and the health of the nation. For most of the 21st century, medical costs have risen faster than overall inflation, America’s life expectancy (and overall health) has stagnated, and the pace of innovation has slowed to a crawl …

“[M]erged hospitals and powerful health systems have raised the price, lowered the quality and decreased the convenience of American medicine.”

According to Pearl, 40 of our largest healthcare systems combined own 2,073 different hospitals. That’s approximately one-third of all emergency and acute care facilities in the country.

The top 10 healthcare systems combined own one-sixth of all hospitals and have an annual net revenue of $226.7 billion.

While there are all sorts of antitrust and anticompetitive laws on the books, “legal loopholes and intense lobbying continue to spur hospital consolidation,”. As a result of all this consolidating, hundreds of communities have just one option for inpatient care.

This means there’s no competition in terms of pricing, so prices tend to go up, while the quality of care often declines since patients can’t complain and go elsewhere.

There is A Better Way