of Federal Trade Commission I have long argued that competition improves the economy. But in some states, government agencies have blocked hospital mergers that create local monopolies, with mixed results.
At one point, 24 states passed controversial laws that exempted them from antitrust laws, allowed competing hospitals to merge, and replaced competition with long-term state oversight.
Six years ago, Tennessee and Virginia ushered in the nation's largest state-chartered hospital monopolies. ballard health. In most cases, 1.1 million The integrated system became the only option for hospital care for residents of the Tri-City region of northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia.
Ballard's argument was that the two hospital companies could not survive in the area and that merging would prevent them from closing or being taken over. But critics say fears that the monopoly would threaten access and quality of health care have come true. For example, since the merger, patients have Spend 3x as much time in Ballad's emergency room. before being admitted to the hospital, according to a report released by the Tennessee Department of Health.
“I don't want to risk my life anymore and die in a hospital in Ballard,” he said. neil osborneOsborn, a city councilman in Bristol, Virginia, said in an interview that he had a diabetes crisis this year and spent 30 hours in the Ballard ER. “The wait time to get into the ER and see a doctor has increased exponentially.”
The legislation that created Ballad is known as the Certificate of Public Interest (COPA). The FTC has repeatedly warned countries to be wary of COPA. COPA “exists solely to protect mergers that would be illegal under antitrust laws.” rahul raoDeputy Director. competition bureau he told KFF Health News in an interview last year.
There was something about 10 hospital mergers After relying on COPA for the past 30 years, the Fed has seen higher prices, lower quality, less access and lower wages, Rao said.
Since Ballad's COPA, the integrated system is Most quality of care goals are not met What each state has established in recent years. It has fallen short of its charitable commitments to the state of Tennessee by about three years. $191 million Over a span of 5 years.
Ballard blames quality struggles on the coronavirus pandemic, charity shortages on Medicaid changes, and longer acute care hospital stays on staffing and discharge challenges that are out of control. It is said that there is.
Barad said inpatient emergency care time has been reduced to about an hour. 7.5 hours Since the latest annual report.
“For matters directly within Ballad Health's control, our performance has rebounded starting in 2022,” a Ballard spokesperson said. Molly Luton.
The FTC announced in 2019 that it would investigate the Ballard merger, but has not yet issued a report.
Tennessee introduced legislation this year to limit COPA.But on Tuesday, a state legislative subcommittee voted to kill the bill He refused to hear testimony from Tri-City residents who drove five hours to Nashville for a chance to oppose Ballard, and he did not engage in arguments.
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