The quality of care at hospitals acquired during a recent wave of deal making got worse or stayed the same, new research found, a blow to a frequently cited rationale for tie-ups, the Wall Street Journal reported. Hospital merger-and-acquisition activity has surged in recent years, with executives involved in transactions making the case that greater size will boost quality with new investments and yield other improvements as deal makers benefit from each others’ strengths. The new research, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked for evidence of quality gains using four widely used measures of performance at nearly 250 hospitals acquired in deals between 2009 and 2013. “Quality didn’t improve,” said Harvard University research associate Nancy Beaulieu, lead author of the study. The question of impact has become increasingly pressing as hospital deal making soared in the past decade. Hospitals announced 90 deals in 2018, a dip from the recent high of 117 transactions the prior year, but up 80% from 50 deals in 2009, according to data from Kaufman Hall, a health-care consulting firm. Figures include joint ventures and deals for minority interest. Prior studies have found higher prices follow mergers. Prices increased 6 percent after nearby hospitals merged, according to one analysis published by the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 2018. Another 2017 study found acquisitions raised prices 6 to 7 percent when competitors became rivals in new markets as deals expanded their geographic footprint. Read more. (Subscription required.)
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