AHA blog rebuts ‘outdated and recycled’ article on hospital consolidation

A recent article in American Economic Review provides an “outdated and recycled take” on the effect of hospital consolidation on wages, writes AHA General Counsel Melinda Hatton.

“The article first appeared as a working paper several years ago,” she notes. “At that time, the AHA expressed concern about the lack of rigor and assumptions used in the analysis. We also noted its overly narrow focus on wages rather than total compensation and opportunities for advancement in a larger system. Disappointingly, the article remains largely the same, including its trivial sample size and non-generalizable conclusions.”