Big corporations are scooping up primary care practices to get access to vast numbers of patients while positioning themselves for the shift to value-based care, The New York Times reported May 8.
The story cited CVS Heath's $10.6 billion purchase of Oak Street Health, Amazon's $3.9 billion deal for One Medical and Optum's employment of roughly 70,000 physicians. The companies hope to treat the more than 30 million Americans on Medicare Advantage, which the federal government is paying private payers $400 billion a year to administer.
"That's the big pot of money everyone is aiming at," Erin Fuse Brown, director of the Center for Law, Health & Society at Atlanta-based Georgia State University, told The Times. "It's a one-stop shop for all your healthcare dollars."
For instance, while 5 percent of One Medical's 836,000 members are on Medicare Advantage, they account for about half the company's revenues, the newspaper reported, citing 2022 financial statements.
While some experts told the news outlet the jury is still out on whether this will benefit patients — and some value-based care organizations have faced lawsuits and investigations over their referral, billing and patient recruitment practices — other observers say the acquisitions will help increase access to care.
"The salaries of the folks in those arrangements are higher," Ann Greiner, president and CEO of the nonprofit Primary Care Collaborative, told The Times. "They are providing more comprehensive care in many of those arrangements. They are providing more tech and more team-based care. That's all investment."