I wish more people talked about this I attended a talk by the president of a major academic hospital system. He talked about how his friends who were independe

I wish more people talked about this I attended a talk by the president of a major academic hospital system. He talked about how his friends who were independent physicians would call him up and ask him to "save" them. Their practices were failing (probably bc the big academic center was so massive that it crowded out any smaller practices). The big system bought the small one, and overnight the previously independent practice doubled its billing rates. This was a core part of the strategy of the hospital system, as it is for hospital systems nationwide -- buy up small practices and use them as loss leaders to direct patient flow to the hospital profit centers (I've talked to people at these systems who view primary care as a loss leader even after their rates double when they are acquired). Then negotiate higher rates with payers since you control the market There was no talk of benefits of better care coordination or data sharing through integration. Not in this talk or any of the other half dozen similar talks I've been to. "Population health" is a PR play that big hospital systems use to justify monopolistic behavior. And we wonder why healthcare costs are so high