The trend is clear: When hospitals in the same community merge, prices spike. The government has such an easy time blocking those deals, hospitals rarely propose them anymore.
But a study released Tuesday adds to a growing body of evidence that prices still go up even if the merging hospitals are far apart. The Federal Trade Commission has never tried to block such cross-market mergers, but antitrust experts say these latest findings add to what could become a strong legal argument against the deals.
“The findings stand for themselves as yet another demonstration that these mergers really are causing price increases,” said Katherine Gudiksen, a study author and executive editor of the Source on Healthcare Price and Competition at the University of California College of Law, San Francisco.
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