Health care's merger mania
With Abbott Laboratories announcing its definitive agreement to acquire St. Jude Medical for $25 billion in 2016, a 2017 announcement by CVS to acquire the health insurance giant, Aetna, for roughly $70 billion, and an additional 115 hospital and health system mergers reported in 2017 by consulting firm Kaufman Hall and Associates, the industry has clearly defined its new model for the future. For doctors like Matthew Hahn, M.D., a New York-based family physician and author of "Distracted: How Regulations Are Destroying the Practice of Medicine and Preventing True Health Care Reform", that new definition includes "cumbersome government rules, newer health insurance policies with high premiums, high deductibles, prior authorizations, and narrow, inscrutable coverage" that blocks doctors from delivering the care patients need. Undoubtedly, the effects of these mergers will continue unfolding over time and will vary from stakeholder to patient, but one thing is certain: In this current health care climate, doctors, nurses and administrators have been forced to adapt not only to a new industry paradigm but also to more rules and regulations that have limited the provision of the best patient care possible. The outcome is obvious.
The time for disruption
2018 brought the announcement of a partnership between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase, whose new venture aims to cut their employees’ health care costs in a time of skyrocketing premiums and market consolidation. While details about this potential independent company are yet to be unveiled, the reason for its inception remains clear: patients and employers alike are losing patience with the continuing trends of poor-quality health care at a luxury price.
A race to the bottom line
An increasing number of reports, including "Mirror, Mirror 2017: International Comparison Reflects Flaws and Opportunities for Better U.S. Health Care", released by the Commonwealth Fund, put into harsh perspective the state of U.S. health care. Rather than leading the world, we have fallen to last place on a list of the top 10 countries with similar high-income populations.
Commonwealth Fund: Mirror, Mirror 2017: International Comparison Reflects Flaws and Opportunities for Better U.S. Health Care
