Consolidation in Health Care Markets: Contemporary Evidence on Impact and Options for Policy & Regulation

This meeting (attendance free and open to the public) will examine evidence for the impact of health care consolidation on key market outcomes including pricing, expenditures, access, quality of care and patient and community experiences. The meeting will focus on what is known, and importantly what is unknown or uncertain, with the goal of informing industry regulation and health policy development. Important issues related to the development of empirical evidence, including challenges related to data availability and measurement will be addressed. Panelists will include a select mix of federal and state regulators, policymakers, and administrative officials, as well as academic researchers working in the area and representatives from the provider, health system and insurance industries. The meeting is informed, in part, by a forthcoming special issue of the journal Medical Care Research and Review focused on consolidation in U.S. healthcare. The issue includes eighteen papers that cover many key dimensions of the topic.

Agenda

(* denotes author of paper published in the October 2026 issue of Medical Care Research and Review)

8:30–8:45 Welcome and Overview of Day

Welcome from Tamara Konetzka, Editor and Chief of Medical Care Research & Review and Professor, University of Chicago and Cory Capps, Partner, Bates White Economic Consulting

Brief overview of the meeting by Dennis Scanlon, Professor, Penn State University and Guest Editor of the Medical Care Research and Review issue on Consolidation in U.S. Healthcare

8:45–9:45 Evolving Trends in Healthcare Consolidation: Research, Policy, Regulatory and Industry Perspectives

Paul Ginsburg (moderator), Senior Scholar, USC Schaeffer Center

Cory Capps*, Partner, Bates White Economic Consulting

Upcoming publication - Healthcare Merger Enforcement in the 2020s: Policy Changes and Enforcement Continuity

Matt Day, Senior Advisor, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Alan Levine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ballad Health

Helen Knudsen, Acting Economics Director of Enforcement, U.S. Department of Justice

AFL/CIO Representative (invited)

9:50–10:50 Empirical Evidence on Different Forms of Health Care Consolidation

Justin Timbie*, Senior Health Policy Researcher RAND

Upcoming publication - Primary Care Physician Organization Affiliations with Health Systems between 2014 and 2019 Were Associated with Modest Improvements in Quality of Care

Anna Sinaiko*, Associate Professor, Harvard University

Relevant publication - The Effects of Ownership and Contracting Relationships Between Primary Care Physicians and Health Systems in Massachusetts

David Meyers*, Associate Professor, Brown University

Relevant publication - Hospital-Medicare Advantage Vertical Consolidation, 1980-2024

Jessica Zhang, Senior Policy Manager, 32BJ Health Fund

11:00–12:00 Difficulty in Estimating Prices for Purposes of Understanding the Impact of Consolidation: Opportunities from Newly Available Data

Andrea Ducas (moderator), Vice President for Programs, Peterson Center on Healthcare

Dennis Scanlon*, Distinguished Professor, Penn State University

Relevant publication - It’s the Production Function Dummy … and Still the Prices Stupid

David Muhlestein, Founder and CEO, Simple Healthcare

Christopher Whaley*, Associate Professor, Brown University

Andrea Ducas, Vice President for Programs, Peterson Center on Healthcare

Justus Timmers, Senior Economist, Bates White Economic Consulting

12:50–1:50 Evidence on Impacts of Policy and Payment Initiatives: Do Unintended Consequences Incentivize Consolidation?

Kathleen Carey (moderator), Professor, Boston University; Associate Editor of Medical Care Research and Review

Lindsey Mauldin, Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of Governor Josh Shapiro – Pennsylvania

Ilina Odouard*, PhD Student, Johns Hopkins University

Relevant publication - Changes in Service Delivery Following Site-Neutral Payment Reforms by Hospital 340B Status

Brady Post*, Assistant Professor, Northeastern University

Upcoming publication - Hospital-Physician Integration and the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement Program

Yashaswini Singh*, Assistant Professor, Brown University

Relevant publication - Low-Value Care Following Hospital and Private Equity Acquisition in Primary Care

Christopher Garmon, University of Missouri-KC

Relevant publication - Certificates of Public Advantage and Hospital Mergers

1:55–2:55 Impact of Consolidation on the Safety Net, Rural Communities, and Specific Types of Clinical Care

Michael Fallahkair (moderator), Deputy Associate Administrator, Federal Office of Rural Health Policy

Nancy Keating*, Professor, Harvard University

Relevant publication - Changes in Oncology Care Provision Following Safety Net Hospital Acquisition by Health Systems

Larry Hearld*, Professor, University of Alabama-Birmingham

Upcoming publication - Hospital Adaptations to New Models of Primary Care

Caitlin Carroll, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota

Relevant publication - Rural Hospital Closures Led to Increased Prices at Nearby ‘Surviving Hospitals’

Daniel Deibler, Associate, Cornerstone Research

Relevant publication - How much do firms drive healthcare utilization: Evidence from multi-payer claims data

3:00–3:55 Distinguished Academic Panel: Perspectives on Consolidation Informed Over Decades of Study

(based on written essays published in the MCRR special issue)

Marty Gaynor, University Professor Emeritus, Carnegie Mellon University

Mark Pauly*, Professor Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania

Relevant publication - Kindling Hospital Competition to Control Costs

James Robinson*, Professor, UC Berkeley

Relevant publication - Small is not Beautiful: A Critique of Antitrust Economics and Policy in Healthcare

Alain Enthoven, Professor Emeritus, and Sara Singer*, Professor, Stanford University

Upcoming publication - Recommendations for Implementing the Principles of Managed Competition in an Era of Delivery System and Market Consolidation           

4:00–4:45 What is Potentially Mutable? Practical Advice and Strategies for Improving Market Outcomes (Care Access, Care Affordability and Care Quality)



Michael Chernew, Professor, Harvard University; Former Head of MedPAC

Taylor Hoogendorn, J.D., Deputy Director, Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition

Chapin White, Senior Scholar, USC Schaeffer Center and formerly CBO

Katherine Scarborough Mills, Senior Director Market Oversight and Transparency, Massachusetts Health Policy Commission