title: Which types of hospital mergers save consumers money?
abstract: This study analyzes the changes in costs and prices from 1986 to 1994 for more than 3,500 U.S. short-term general hospitals, including 122 horizontal mergers. These mergers were generally financially beneficial to consumers, providing average price reductions of approximately 7 percent. Merger-related price reductions were considerably less in market areas with higher market concentration levels. Merger-related price reductions in areas with higher penetration by health maintenance organizations (HMOs) were approximately twice those in areas with lower HMO penetration. Merger-related price reductions were greater for low-occupancy hospitals, nonteaching hospitals, nonsystem hospitals, similar-size hospitals, and hospitals with greater premerger service duplication.
authors.affiliation: Healthcare Management Department, Carlson School of Management, USA.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Connor
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Feldman
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Dowd
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Radcliff
mesh_terms: D000573:American Hospital Association; D016363:Antitrust Laws; D003256:Community Participation / Q000191:economics; D017046:Cost Savings; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D019981:Health Care Sector; D006273:Health Facility Merger / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D014481:United States