A May 3 Bloomberg Businessweek article, “The Big Keep Getting Bigger in the Pandemic-Rearranged Economy,” covers the risk of consolidation post-COVID crisis. From the article:
Hospitals could be another area of consolidation. To deal with the virus outbreak, they are delaying elective surgery, which is worsening already squeezed finances at many providers. An April 6 report by Boston Consulting Group said the strain on hospitals would accelerate consolidation and the integration of independent physicians into health systems. Bloomberg Intelligence health-care analyst Glen Losev expects hospital operators HCA Healthcare Inc. and Tenet Healthcare Corp. to be buyers once the crisis recedes.
“Our health-care supply chain because of all the consolidation is already bottled-necked,” said Diana Moss, the president of the American Antitrust Institute, which advocates for aggressive merger enforcement. “Allowing more consolidation would mean more bottle-necking and more dominance and lack of flexibility.”
