WASHINGTON — Some government antitrust regulators are hinting at their support for expanding physician-owned hospitals, another sign of the Biden administration’s increasing scrutiny of consolidation among the nation’s health systems.
The subject came up in a paper about physician-owned hospitals written by a notable list of authors, including antitrust lawyers from the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. The authors argue that lifting an Obamacare provision that keeps physician-owned hospitals from getting paid by Medicare or Medicaid would go a long way toward alleviating the problems that arise from hospital consolidation because doctor-owned facilities compete against large hospital systems and help control prices.