The states where hospitals are most concentrated
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Every hospital in North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming is in a highly concentrated market, according to a blog post from Yale's new Health Care Affordability Lab.
Why it matters: As rising health care costs put more financial strain on Americans, "one major and underappreciated factor driving price increases is rising consolidation among U.S. hospitals," the blog post argues.
- It notes that over the past 20 years, there have been around 1,300 mergers among the nation's approximately 5,000 hospitals. The Federal Trade Commission has taken action on competition concerns against only 13 of the deals.
Between the lines: Maine and Montana aren't far behind the top three, with 97.4% and 98.4% of their hospitals in highly concentrated markets, respectively.
- None of the hospitals in Washington, D.C., are in concentrated markets, and Rhode Island and New Jersey round out the bottom three.
- The tool used in the blog post defines markets based on a 30-minute travel time in order to determine whether patients have a reasonable choice between facilities.
Yes, but: The most concentrated states also have large rural populations, which can make supporting more than one hospital in a community difficult.
The big picture: Hospitals accounted for 40% of the growth in national health spending between 2022 and 2024 — a much larger share than any other health spending category, per a recent KFF analysis.
