The consolidation of large hospitals and health care systems has captured the attention of both Republicans and Democrats on the political and policy radar, and presents a valuable opportunity for action in a polarized Congress.
Janet Trautwain, who heads the National Congress, author of The Benefits and Insurance Experts, explains “How Consolidation Hurts Patients.”Medical concentration is far from doctor’s order”
In 2017, 90% of the domestic hospital market was considered ‘highly concentrated’, with many more mergers taking place since then.
While this reduces hospital costs, the savings are rarely passed on to consumers. When a hospital merges or acquires another, Trautwain writes, hospital prices increase by 6 to 20 percent. That will lead to higher insurance premiums, but at the same time it will not improve the quality of care.
medical bureaucracy It is extremely difficult and dangerous for doctors to continue to practice independently. 3 out of 4 doctors It is now used by large hospital systems and health insurance schemes.
They outsource scheduling, billing and negotiations with insurance companies to these conglomerates in exchange for salaries and some support staff.
Medical blogs show how this demoralizes doctors as they are forced to see more than eight patients an hour.system recommends expensive inspections I do not think that blood vessel examination and abdominal ultrasonography are necessarily necessary.
Instead of having nurses stationed to answer calls from patients, calls could be forwarded to call centers abroad and patients directed to emergency care centers (which also own the system).
what will you do? There is no silver bullet to reform the way $4.3 trillion in private and public money is spent on health care each year. But it’s important to start.
Three major committees in the House have spent the summer working out the details of a pivotal healthcare reform bill, the Low Cost, Transparency Act, to be introduced today.
House Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and Labor Committees focus on health care price transparency, site-neutral payments, increased funding for community health centers, graduate medical education programs, and other health negotiated a package that program.
We’ll learn more about the effort after the final bill is tabled, but signs of consensus on the issue are encouraging, both among Congressional Democrats and center-left think tanks.
the third method, for example, new report It is explained as follows. “Uncontrollable hospital prices are part of a vicious cycle in which hospital consolidation drives up prices and impedes the competition needed to keep costs down. Sexuality will be undermined and more hospitals will be consolidated.”
And the Progressive Policy Institute also New Center for Competition Policy Antitrust policy expert Dr. Diana Moss will serve as chairman, whose mission is to “advocate for strong competition enforcement and policy.”
While we don’t necessarily agree on a solution, agreeing that hospital consolidation is a major cost driver affecting the entire healthcare system is an important starting point.
