title: Mergers and health care organizations.
abstract: The concerns over ever-rising health care costs has motivated physicians, hospitals, and insurance carriers to search for ways to increase efficiency, decrease costs, and maintain or improve quality. Mergers have been recognized as having the capability to accomplish all three goals-but not without some concerns. This article's intent is to provide the reader with basic knowledge that will assist in understanding the discussion regarding the appropriateness of mergers in health care. It reviews issues raised by mergers and examines a few case studies of merged health care organizations.
authors.affiliation: Brigham and Women's OBGYN Department, Harvard Medical School, USA.
authors.forename: Diana V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Shaw
mesh_terms: D016363:Antitrust Laws; D003284:Contract Services; D003363:Cost Control / Q000379:methods; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004465:Economic Competition; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D006273:Health Facility Merger / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006302:Health Services Research; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics; D017008:Negotiating; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D014481:United States