News & Events

Upcoming Webinar: Effective Government & Private Sector Initiatives to Address Childhood Obesity

NIHCM Foundation and WellPoint, Inc. will host a webinar, "Effective Government & Private Sector Initiatives to Addr...

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AcademyHealth to Host Health Policy Orientation

AcademyHealth's annual Health Policy Orientation will take place in Washington DC on October 25-28, 2010. This event...

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Upcoming Webinar: Adolescent & Young Adult Health in the Post Reform Era

NIHCM will host a webinar, "Adolescent & Young Adult Health in the Post Reform Era," on August 17, 2010 at 1:00...

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New Issue Brief on Perinatal Oral Health

NIHCM Foundation and the Children's Dental Health Project are pleased to announce the release of a new Issue Brief, "...

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Creating Healthy Opportunities: Conversations with Adolescent Health Experts

NIHCM Foundation, in collaboration with the Partners in Program Planning for Adolescent Health (PIPPAH) initiative, is please...

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New Issue Brief on Maternal Depression

NIHCM Foundation is pleased to announce the release of a new Issue Brief, "Identifying & Treating Maternal Depressio...

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NIHCM News

New Expert Voices: Hospital Market Consolidation

November 12th 2009

NIHCM Foundation is pleased to release a new edition of Expert Voices, "Hospital Market Consolidation: Trends and Consequences," by William B. Vogt, PhD, Senior Economist, RAND Corporation.

The weight of the evidence indicates that hospital prices increase following hospital consolidation, sometimes by very significant amounts. While modest cost savings can be achieved, especially when physical facilities and clinical services are consolidated, these savings have not generally been passed on to payers and consumers. Evidence on quality is mixed, but some studies suggest that hospital consolidation leads to poorer outcomes.  Within this context, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice are now revisiting their long-standing guidelines for horizontal mergers. Developments on this front bear watching. View this essay and others in the series at http://nihcm.org/publications/expert_voices.