AHA: Hospital consolidation trend a positive development

A study conducted by the American Hospital Association makes the case that the consolidation trend has potential to drive down costs.  

The Washington Post's WonkBlog: Hospital Chains Keep Getting Bigger
The American Hospital Association brought [Jerry Morasko, president of Avita Health Systems] to Washington on Monday morning to talk a small group of journalists about hospital mergers. As health policy experts have increasingly worried about a wave of hospital consolidation, the hospitals' trade association wanted to make the case that growing integration of hospital practices is a positive trend -- one with the potential to drive prices down, rather than up. First, it's helpful to review what's been happening in the hospital industry in recent years. The sector has seen a wave of consolidation, with big hospital chains buying up smaller facilities. Analysts at Booz & Company counted, in a recent report, over 100 hospital mergers and acquisitions in the past year alone (Kliff, 6/3).

CQ HealthBeat: AHA Study Paints Benign Picture Of Hospital Consolidation
Fears that consolidation among hospitals is giving them too much power to jack up prices and circumvent efforts by government and business to control health care spending are misplaced, a new study by the American Hospital Association suggests. Only 10 percent of community hospitals were part of a merger or acquisition from 2007 to 2012, said the study conducted for AHA by Margaret Guerin-Calivert, a former official in the Department of Justice's antitrust division (Reichard, 6/3).