Does Value-Based Reimbursement = Provider Consolidation?

“Payment reform will drive provider organization mergers.”

That is a bit of “conventional wisdom” regarding the current market landscape. And certainly, there is lots of evidence that more provider organization consolidations are happening — see Is $400 Million The Number?, Make M&A Work For Your Organization, and Does Size = Innovation?

But is the move to value-based reimbursement driving this consolidation? Reading the title from a new study published in Health Affairs — Little Evidence Exists To Support The Expectation That Providers Would Consolidate To Enter New Payment Models — you might conclude the answer is “no.” The analysis examined the . . .