Changes in Quality of Care after Hospital Mergers and Acquisitions.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The hospital industry has consolidated substantially during the past two decades and at an accelerated pace since 2010. Multiple studies have shown that hospital mergers have led to higher prices for commercially insured patients, but research about effects on quality of care is limited.

Methods

Using Medicare claims and Hospital Compare data from 2007 through 2016 on performance on four measures of quality of care (a composite of clinical-process measures, a composite of patient-experience measures, mortality, and the rate of readmission after discharge) and data on hospital mergers and acquisitions occurring from 2009 through 2013, we conducted difference-in-differences analyses comparing changes in the performance of acquired hospitals from the time before acqu

SUBMITTER: Beaulieu ND 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7080214 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature