Health Affairs has a post today about the effects of health care consolidation. We at our nascent blog have also begun to explore the effects of this trend. With individual providers joining hospitals and even whole health care systems being acquired by their larger competitors, the consolidation of care is one of the ACA's strategies. The logic is that if one provider can see through a patient's health, focusing on preventive care and lowering costs rather than charging more and more for perhaps unneeded procedures, the cost of care will increase.
I am skeptical about this proposition, and it sounds like the jury is still out in general. Specialization is the fruit of an advanced economy. Why limit that in health care?
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