Hospital-physician integration driving up medical prices, JAMA study says
he increase in outpatient spending was driven almost entirely by price increases.
A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found higher healthcare prices for outpatient care linked to the financial integration between physicians and hospitals.
Financial integration between physicians and hospitals helps providers meet the challenges of new payment models and may enhances their bargaining power, according to JAMA Internal Medicine, a publication of JAMA.
The effect of greater bargaining power is the potential for higher prices and spending in commercial healthcare markets, the authors said in the Oct. 19 report.
[Also: Clinics, tech, physician practices acquisitions to outpace hospital deals, Accenture report says]
The authors studied the relationship between physician-hospital integration and changes in spending, from 2008 to 2012, using data from the Truven Health MarketScan Commercial Database.
The study population included over 7 million non-elderly consumers in 240 metro areas who were enrolled in preferred-provider organizations or point-of-service plans.
The study found that over the four years, physician-hospital integration increased by a mean of 3.3 percentage points, with considerable variation across the metro areas.
During this time, there was a mean increase of $75 per enrollee in annual outpatient spending, and a 3.1 percent increase in outpatient spending in 2012, according to the study. The increase in outpatient spending was driven almost entirely by price increases because associated changes in utilization were minimal, according to the study.
Changes in physician-hospital integration were not associated with significant changes in inpatient spending, the authors said.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
