Health

AARP fighting to protect Medicare 

Axios - Hospitals are steadily buying up small physician practices and, in the process, driving up the price of care, a new National Bureau of Economic Research study shows. It's the latest evidence of consolidation in health care that's left more than three-quarters of U.S. doctors employed by health systems or corporations.

• The pace has quickened in recent years, driven by factors like declining reimbursements for some specialties and expenses like electronic health record systems that have left small independent practices struggling.
• But that's brought a decline in competition that raises antitrust concerns.

"These are thousands and thousands of very small transactions and the question is: What do you do about them?" said Yale economist and study co-author Zack Cooper.

Between 2008 and 2016, the researchers found the the share of private physician practices acquired by a hospital in the U.S. rose by 71.5%.

• By 2016, roughly half (47.2%) of physician practices were owned by a hospital.
• Within two years of physician groups being acquired, the study found, physician prices increased an average of 15.1%.
• Two years after buying an OB-GYN practice, prices for labor and delivery were up by $475, an increase of 3.3%.

The acquisitions aren't limited to health systems: Private equity and insurers, and businesses like Amazon, are also scooping up medical practices from doctors fed up with declining pay and high overhead costs.