Mergers and acquisitions of hospitals have come under considerable criticism in recent years, and has even led to the Biden administration recently issuing an executive order demanding additional scrutiny of such deals. But they appear to have been a literal lifesaver at rural hospitals, according to a new study, Health Care Dive reports.
The researchers compared mortality rates at 172 hospitals that had been involved in a merger between 2009 and 2016, using data from the American Hospital Association and Irving Levin Associates, which closely tracks merger activity in the healthcare sector. That was compared to payer data for more than 1.2 million patient discharges and mortality data from AHRQ that covered six different medical conditions.
Altogether, mortality rates dropped nearly 1.8% at hospitals that had completed a merger. For some conditions, such as acute myocardial infarctions, mortality rates dropped by more than four percentage points, or by nearly 50% overall.
The lower rate continued on for at least four years after the merger was executed, researchers found. Read more.
