“What We Know About Provider Consolidation,” by Karyn Schwartz, el al., Kaiser Family Foundation

Quote:
“The COVID-19 pandemic has led to dramatic decreases in health care spending, as patients and providers have delayed a wide range of health care services. The decrease in service use and spending resulted in a decline in revenue for many providers at the same time that some are facing increased costs due to the pandemic. Given the uncertain timing of a ‘return to normal’ and potentially lingering effects of the current economic crisis, some providers may continue to experience sustained declines in revenue even with the federal assistance that has been made available. Depending on the severity and duration of revenue loss, some hospitals and physician practices may find it difficult to operate independently, which could increase the rate of consolidation among health care providers. … A wide body of research has shown that provider consolidation leads to higher health care prices for private insurance; this is true for both horizontal and vertical consolidation. … Remedial action from policymakers could come in the form of increasing anti-trust enforcement—including taking steps to address any potential anti-competitive behavior in markets that are already consolidated—or targeted assistance to struggling providers that are trying to remain independent.”

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):

The pandemic and recession will produce wave after wave of negative economic ramifications. So naturally the first and only recommendation from this source is more of the government regulation and interference that caused the underlying problems in the first place.