This past September, I wrote an Op-Ed piece for the Des Moines Register and a blog discussing the important drawbacks of the proposed merger between Sanford Health and UnityPoint Health. In early November, this merger was abruptly called off, with the Sanford Health CEO indicating that the UnityPoint board “failed to embrace the vision of a new health system of national prominence.” For more than three decades, many hospitals around the country have been on one huge shopping spree, buying-up their competitors – both big and small. The common rationale cited by hospital executives (and their powerful associations) are that hospitals will become better health systems, patients will benefit with better quality-of-care, and that costs will go down. In short, they pitch that this buying behavior is a win-win for everyone. Bottom line – this behavior usually favors the merging hospitals Read More >