AAI’s Series on Competition in the Delivery and Payment of Healthcare Services: Part I - Consolidation in Provider and Insurer Markets: Enforcement Issues and Priorities
American Antitrust Institute, 2018
22 Pages Posted: 28 Feb 2019
Date Written: June 12, 2018
Abstract
The U.S. healthcare sector is undergoing rapid change. Providers and payers are adopting new organizational forms as payment methods and delivery models transform. Some of the changes underway have been spurred by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Others are the result of market forces and sectoral changes that were long underway before the ACA was passed. Still others are in anticipation of a new policy direction from Republican policymakers. And virtually all changes in some way relate to the private sector’s efforts to adapt to new revenue models and technologies. Many of these forces have created strong financial incentives for assorted healthcare entities to join forces, some opportunistically to aggregate market power, and some to bring greater value to an inefficient delivery system. Though there is little empirical doubt that competitive markets generate enormous benefits for patients and consumers, reducing the cost of healthcare while improving its quality, the need for swift and predictably pro-competitive policies may never be more pressing than it is today.
Keywords: Healthcare, Mergers, ACA
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