Federal Report Highlights Private Equity, Consolidation Concerns

Modern Healthcare / By Hayley DeSilva
 
Three federal agencies on Wednesday said "more effective and vigorous" enforcement is needed to protect patients harmed by healthcare's continued consolidation.
 
In a report released just days before a new administration takes over, the Health and Human Services Department, Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department said comments they sought earlier this year on the state of the industry made clear that worries about access to services and costs have intensified as consolidation and private equity's role have grown.
 
"It is clear from the commentors that the Agencies’ past actions have not sufficiently addressed the harms inflicted by anti-competitive activity in the health care sector, and more effective and vigorous antitrust enforcement is necessary to stop or reverse the trend of consolidation," the agencies wrote.
 
The report stems from the agencies' request for information in March about how market transactions have affected consolidation, patient safety, affordability, employee wages and safety as well as taxpayer burden. The agencies received comments from more than 2,000 patients, physicians, health systems, insurers, industry associations, labor unions and academic researchers. 
 
Merger and acquisition activity, particularly among hospitals and involving private equity firms, dominated many of the responses. Many hospitals and health systems have turned to mergers and acquisitions, sometimes with private equity firms, to ease financial pressures…

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