Consolidation among healthcare providers, a significant trend in the industry for the last two years, will continue well into 2013 and beyond, but at the same time expect law enforcement arms of federal and state governments to attempt to keep providers from getting too big.
Consolidation in the form of smaller providers joining larger ones has become imperative in order to counteract growing oversight by the government as part of healthcare reform and similar initiatives. Also, the bigger a provider is, the more likely it is to get paid for the services it provides.
“Hospitals are increasingly buying doctors’ practices, then sending bills for routine services that are significantly higher than those charged by independent doctors,” the Charlotte Oberserver wrote in a recent investigation into healthcare provider consolidation. A more accurate statement, one suspects, is that doctors are selling their practices, not that hospitals are buying them.
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