Plan and Provider Consolidation: Better Coordination or Price Gouging?
Experts
Campaigns
Consolidations are increasing the market power of hospitals, physicians and insurers in ways that may ultimately act as a major cost driver in the U.S. healthcare system. The industry claims consolidation leads to better care coordination, health outcomes, innovation and cost savings through efficiencies, but does the research suggest the same?
This Hub webinar provided an in-depth discussion on plan and provider consolidation, the impact on consumers and the tool set available to advocates to prevent or mitigate the negative effects of consolidation.
Speakers
Leemore Dafny ( Slides )
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Dena Mendelsohn ( Slides )
Consumers Union
Lynn Quincy
Healthcare Value Hub (Moderator)
Chapin White ( Slides ) ( Chapin’s reading list on provider consolidation )
RAND
Webcast
Resources
From the Healthcare Value Hub and Consumers Union
- Hub Research Brief No. 10, Plan and Provider Consolidation: Better Coordination or Price Gouging? (coming soon)
- Hub glossary of related terms
- Proposed Health Plan Mergers: State Summary (January 2016)
- Hub Research Brief No. 4, A Primer: How Antitrust Law Affects Competition in the Healthcare Marketplace
- Consumers Union, statement to the California Department of Managed Healthcare on the proposed merger of Ventene Corporation and Health Net of California (Dec. 14, 2015).
- Consumers Union, statement to the California Department of Managed Healthcare on the proposed material modification concerning the acquisition of Humana by Aetna (Jan. 8, 2016).
In the News
State attorneys general joining probe of health insurer mergers, Reuters (Jan. 11, 2016)
- Coalition to Protect Patient Choice (Resources connected to the coalition’s efforts to investigate health insurance mergers.)
- Acquisition and Affiliation Strategies, Healthcare Financial Management Association
- Health Marketplace Index, Healthcare Cost Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This tool utilizes several metrics, including HHI scores, prices and utilization records to score the economic performance of a number of healthcare markets.
- Kaiser Family Foundation tool to view health plan concentration in your state
- “Reading list” on consolidation from webinar speaker Chapin White.
Consumers Union (CU) is an expert, independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves.