Claims that larger health systems acquiring independent hospitals leads to higher prices and a reduction in the quality of care are highly "biased," according to the American Hospital Association.
A report from commercial insurer Elevance made such claims this week, arguing the evidence is there to show such negative outcomes of past acquisitions and acting as a warning to proposed transactions.
Such acquisitions of independent hospitals by larger health systems can instead be highly beneficial, not least because they can save otherwise struggling hospitals, AHA CEO Rick Pollack said in an Aug. 4 statement.
Instead, insurers should focus on their own policies of delaying and denying care and their own pricing policies resulting in almost $2 billion in quarterly profits in the case of Elevance, Mr. Pollack said.
"A new 'report' from Elevance Health — the large, for-profit commercial insurer formerly known as Anthem — draws absurd conclusions about the impact of health care systems on access to care, cost and quality," Mr. Pollack said. "Of greatest irony is that while the national health plan behemoth, which dominates many insurer markets, is pointing fingers at the actual health care providers serving patients, it is pocketing record profits."