Healthcare consolidation: Why patients are concerned

What do Americans think about the increasing trend of hospital consolidation?

The Large Urology Group Practice Association partnered with YouGov to understand how Americans feel about doctor-owned physician practices, including their advantages over hospital-owned physician practices, and asked their opinions about the endangerment of doctor-owned physician practices.

The takeaway: Americans are worried.

62 percent of adult Americans are worried about how consolidation will impact their access to affordable care

Reasons for concern:

With fewer options, existing hospitals have the ability to increase the prices of care

    43% of Gen Z/Millennials
    37% of Gen X
    30% of Baby boomers

With less competition, hospitals have less incentive to maintain high quality standards that support the best possible outcomes

    19% Gen Z/Millennials
    27% Gen X
    31% Baby boomers

With greater market share, hospitals are buying physician practices or forcing independent physicians, limiting my ability to get care when I want

    19% Gen Z/Millennials
    22% Gen X
    31% Baby boomers

There are fewer hospitals in my area that are able to serve me and my family in an emergency

    14% Gen Z/Millennials
    13% Gen X
    8% Baby boomers

4 in 10 Americans experience common concerns associated with consolidation

    20% say My doctor’s schedule does not allow for immediate access
    19% say my doctor has limited time to focus on me as a patient
    18% say I need to wait too long for appointments / procedures
    11% say my doctor sees me as a number and not a person
    11% say my doctor has too many patients to remember me
    7% say my doctor is prescribing me unnecessary tests / procedures
    6% say I don’t understand my illness, and nobody has taken the time to explain it to me

69 percent think the government should act to prevent the trend of consolidation

25 percent think consolidation is a threat to their health

Americans are more likely to trust independent physicians

65 percent trust independent physicians more than hospital-employed physicians.

The gap in trust narrows for younger respondents but widens for older respondents.

    Gen Z / Millennials: 53 percent trust independent physicians more
    Baby boomer: 75 percent trust independent physicians more

Americans are most likely to associate independent, doctor-owned medical practices with personalized, patient-focused care; trustworthiness; and high quality

Positive associations

    Personalized care – 56%
    Patient-focused care – 51%
    Trust worthiness – 45%
    High quality care – 41%

Negative associations

    Long waits at the doctor’s office – 18%
    Non-state of the art care – 12%
    Selling unneeded medications/procedures – 10%
    Too busy to personalize care – 8%

More than two-thirds of Americans want a solution to increasing consolidation

33 percent: Insurers should be required to pay hospitals, hospital owned physician groups, and independent physicians the same amount for the same procedures

19 percent: Congress and states should do more to incentivize independent physicians and level the playing field for them with hospitals

17 percent: Congress should empower federal authorities to more closely regulate the purchase of physician practices to prevent hospitals from gaining excessive market share