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.

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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 f

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