Investor-Owned Hospitals and Health-Care Costs

Abstract

One of the largest and most important parts of the "new medical-industrial complex"¹ is the proprietary-hospital industry, which now owns nearly 1100 hospitals in the United States, or about 15 per cent of all the general acute-care facilities in the country, and manages about 300 more. It is an industry that is rapidly consolidating: About two thirds of all general acute-care proprietary hospitals are now controlled by the five largest investor-owned chains, which are still very actively expanding their holdings through the purchase, lease, or management of existing not-for-profit hospitals or the construction of additional new facilities.The putative advantages . . .