title: Picking up the scent: Wave of practice acquisitions by hospitals has antitrust regulators on notice.
abstract: With the growing wave of acquisitions of practices by hospitals, antitrust regulators are putting the deals under harsh scrutiny to see if they're just a cover for raising prices rather than coordinating care and improving quality. "If there's an issue, I want to know about it now," says St. Luke's President and CEO Dr. David Pate, whose hospital met such a roadblock. "Let's just see if there are issues. We don't believe that there are."
authors.forename: Joe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carlson
mesh_terms: D016363:Antitrust Laws; D018578:Hospital-Physician Relations; D020443:Practice Valuation and Purchase / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000639:trends*; D011682:Purchasing, Hospital / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States