When hospitals buy physician practices, prices go up

By Anna Claire Vollers, Stateline.org

As more hospitals have gobbled up private physician practices, costs for childbirth and other services have gone up, according to a new study.

Since the early aughts, the share of physicians in the United States working for hospitals has nearly doubled , according to the study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonprofit research organization.

And as fewer doctors work in physician-owned practices, patients or their insurers end up paying more, the study’s authors found.

For example: Two years after a hospital buys an OB-GYN practice, prices for labor and delivery jump an average of $475 and physician prices rise by $502 , according to the study. Researchers focused on births, which are the most common reason for hospi