Two visions for the future of health care are at war in Pittsburgh (WaPo)
By Carolyn Y. Johnson February 13 at 6:47 PM Email the author
PITTSBURGH — Two health-care juggernauts are locked in a battle for patients in western Pennsylvania that could foretell the future of American health care.
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Such combinations are advertised as a path to greater efficiencies and more-coordinated care. But the competition between the two health systems has brought abrupt and painful change to many people in western Pennsylvania.
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Like other mergers rippling through health care, the integration of health insurance and hospitals is supposed to cut out waste, align incentives and contain costs. But industries that were formerly enemies do not always mix well: Hospitals typically want to keep their beds full, while insurers want to cut costs.
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Linda Blumberg, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, said that if the dynamic between the two systems were truly creating efficiencies to bend the cost curve, she would expect the trend in Pittsburgh to deviate from the rest of the country.
“That’s just not the case,” Blumberg said in an email.
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more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/two-visions-for-the-future-of-health-care-are-at-war-in-pittsburgh/2018/02/13/d987433c-0157-11e8-9d31-d72cf78dbeee_story.html?utm_term=.12eae885694a
I do have to correct one factual error in the article. The statement "the integration of health insurance and hospitals is supposed to cut out waste, align incentives and contain costs" is untrue. It is supposed to increase profit margins, or at least that is what most informed people would suppose, certainly to judge by results.
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