Latest / The Acquisition Talk with Fexingo: Mergers, Buyouts, and Business Sales for Operators
How a Hospital Merger Crushed Patient Prices
When two hospital chains in the same city merge, they promise efficiency and better care. But a landmark 2024 study by economists at the University of Chicago and Stanford found that hospital mergers in concentrated markets raised patient prices by an average of 11 percent. This episode drills into the 2027 case of the Ascension–Providence St. Joseph merger in Seattle, which consolidated 80 percent of the region's private-room capacity. Lucas and Luna walk through the specific contract clauses that allowed the merged entity to renegotiate rates with insurers upward, the FTC's failed…
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