Health Care Provider Organization Consolidation Not Related To Medicare ACOs

A rising trend of consolidation among health care provider organizations since 2010 is not directly associated with the launch of Medicare accountable care organization (ACO) programs under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Although the number of hospital mergers and the size of specialty-oriented physician groups increased after the PPACA was passed, the pace of consolidation was not accelerated in markets with ACO penetration compared to other markets.

These findings were reported in “Little Evidence Exists To Support The Expectation That Providers Would Consolidate To Enter New Payment Models,” by Hannah T. Neprash, Michael E. Chernew, and . . .