AHA shares updated reports on hospital merger benefits, detrimental commercial insurance practices with federal regulators

AHA today shared with the National Economic Council, Federal Trade Commission, and departments of Health and Human Services and Justice an updated study by Charles River Associates on the benefits of mergers within the hospital field. The study confirms that contemporary hospital mergers result in significant cost savings and quality improvements without an increase in revenue.  
 
“CRA concludes that these findings suggest that cost savings resulting from hospital mergers are passed on to commercial health insurance plans,” AHA wrote to the federal agencies. “Whether those savings are passed on to consumers is uncertain at best.”
 
The AHA also shared with the agencies a paper highlighting commercial health insurance industry’s “proclivity for anticompetitive conduct and some of the recent practices that, while detrimental for both consumers and providers, seems to have escaped scrutiny from any responsible federal agency.” 

In addition, AHA asks to meet with the officials to “discuss these papers and share our views about the benefits hospital mergers can have for communities, particularly those hit hard by the ongoing pandemic, as well as the conduct of the commercial health insurance industry and its impact on consumers and providers.”