As of January, hospitals owned 26% of physician practices nationwide, up from 14% a decade ago. An additional 27% of practices were owned by a corporation, such as a health insurer or a private equity firm, leaving fewer than half of physician practices under independent ownership.
As the health care industry becomes more and more concentrated, some small private practices find it difficult to compete with big health care systems. So, instead, they’re joining them. And research shows, that leads to rising healthcare prices.
CT Mirror’s Katy Golvala tells host Ebong Udoma why consolidation is concerning for patients. You can read her story here.