Side Effects May Include Hospital Consolidation

Health Care Reform's Ripple Effect

Although the Supreme Court has finished debating the constitutionality of the Obama Administration’s health care reform, the ripple effect of its initial passage has already begun. Across southern Idaho, hospital mergers have become the go-to solution for health care providers struggling to survive with the reforms.

Lawmakers promised the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would provide more health care coverage to Americans, improve the quality of care and reduce unnecessary treatments. The package carried promises of reducing wasteful and inefficient health care procedures that drive up fees and ultimately increase the cost of insurance premiums.

But to do this, the federal reforms rolled out a list of strict rules for medical providers to follow or otherwise face drastically reduced profits. This has resulted in an unexpected trend of medical provider consolidation across the country, leading some to question how effective the string of mergers will be in accomplishing the reform package’s goals...