If the merger is successful, a single, comprehensive network will be handling your care from cradle to grave in the state. Q: What are some of the advantages of this type of merger? “But asking a Rhode Islander to travel for any length of time to leave their local hospital to go to one in another city is going to be a tough sell.” “Could it be done? Absolutely,” said Hackey. But with two systems, Hackey said, “everyone is doing everything.” It would be better for patients if certain hospitals specialized in certain procedures instead of each trying to do it all. For example, if one hospital is doing a lot of open-heart surgeries each year, the higher volume of procedures usually leads to better outcomes. Hackey said bigger isn’t always better, but managing volume is. “The data shows that just doesn’t happen.” “The same arguments are made over and over in favor of mergers,” said Pearson, who is originally from Richmond, Rhode Island. Elsa Pearson, a policy analyst with the Boston University School of Public Health, has heard the promises before. Hospital groups, including Care New England and Lifespan, often tout efficiency, quality increases, and cost controls to justify mergers and acquisitions. Q: Will a merger improve the quality of care? “There have been scores of mergers over the past three decades, almost 1,600 over the past twenty years, so if hospital mergers were going to systematically reduce costs or improve quality, we would have seen it by now,” said Gaynor, who is one of the founders of the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to sharing information about the country’s health care spending. Federal Trade Commission, said there’s no data that supports the idea of mergers leading to lower costs.
Martin Gaynor, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University and former director of the Bureau of Economics at the U.S. “It’s not like Blue Cross (Blue Shield) can just say, ‘No, we’re not cutting a contract with you,’ because this newly merged system is going to have so much market power,” said Hackey. But while the cost of out-of-pocket expenses might not go up, the cost of insurance premiums likely will. Hackey at Providence College said an increase of 3.2 percent is relatively low - historically speaking. Raimondo, to hold the total annual health care spending increases to 3.2 percent for the “first several years” after the merger is approved, said Babineau. Fanale, Care New England’s chief executive, voluntarily committed to supporting the health cost trend initiative, which was launched by Governor Gina M.
Babineau, Lifespan’s chief executive, told a Globe reporter Tuesday that the state’s Office of the Health Insurance (OHIC) caps the reimbursement rate insurers pay to hospitals. Will this increase the cost of care or my insurance premiums?ĭr. Q: Will going from two systems to one seems like it would eliminate competition in a small market. Here are the answers to some of Rhode Island’s most pressing questions, from health policy academics and other experts. According to Robert Hackey, professor of health care policy at Providence College, “every Rhode Islander has a stake in this merger.”