Competition Drives Excellence:
The Advantage of Physician-Led Hospitals
Hospital markets are becoming increasingly consolidated, and policymakers from both sides of the aisle are highlighting physician-led hospitals as a tool immediately available to inject competition.
The Harms of Healthcare Consolidation
Policymakers from both sides of the political aisle point to concerning trend. As four authors pointed out in a 2023 paper, consolidation has alarming results for patients.
“This ongoing consolidation can reduce innovation and leave those seeking medical care with fewer provider choices, reduced quality of care and higher prices. For doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers, it can reduce employment opportunities, benefits, and pathways to practice and improve medicine.”
An Immediate Tool to Inject Competition:
Physician-Led Hospitals
“Removing the POH ban could help allay consumer harms caused by provider consolidation and the shrinking role of physicians in leading and designing patient care. POHs can enhance competition in markets where hospitals may be exercising market power, which is vital for reducing costs and improving quality. This benefits patients (which is eventually everyone) and also taxpayers who fund publicly-financed health benefits for nearly one in two Americans.”
Click here to read PHA’s comment letter on deregulation.
Physician-Led Hospitals as a Safeguard:
PHA’s May 2025 Comment Letter to OMB
“This outdated restriction promotes the very consolidation that is strangling our healthcare system and limiting patient choice. Physician-led hospitals are one of the last safeguards against this monopolization, injecting much-needed competition into the marketplace. This limitation has not only deprived patients of deep expertise and advanced care in our facilities, but also has been a boon for hospital systems to eliminate competition and gain a tight grip on large service regions, physician practices, and insurance companies.”
Click here to read PHA’s letter to the Department of Justice.
Physician-Led Hospitals as a Safeguard:
PHA’s Comment Letter to the Department of Justice
“[Lifting] the ban on POHs would produce cost savings for federal entitlement programs. Researchers at UConn Health and Loyola University Chicago found in a recent study that physician-owned hospitals could have fueled approximately $1.1 billion in savings to the federal government across 20 of Medicare’s most expensive conditions in 2019.”
