- Center on Health Equity & Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
Dr Barbara McAneny Expresses Concern With Increasing Consolidation
The American Medical Association (AMA) had pushed for the CVS–Aetna merger to be blocked because of the increasing body of literature that shows consolidation results in more expensive care with no increase in quality, said Barbara L. McAneny, MD, president of the AMA.
The American Medical Association (AMA) had pushed for the CVS—Aetna merger to be blocked because of the increasing body of literature that shows consolidation results in more expensive care with no increase in quality, said Barbara L. McAneny, MD, president of the AMA.
Transcript
How do you view the vertical integration that has been happening, such as the CVS—Aetna merger?
We had actually requested through the California Department of Insurance and through other testimony that the CVS—Aetna merger not be allowed to take place. We’re appreciative that they at least took the [Medicare] Part D plan away from Aetna, because that was the most egregious conflict of interest.
However, there’s an increasing body of literature that shows that consolidation—either horizontal, where it’s a bunch of hospitals or a bunch of health plans consolidating, or vertical, where it’s health plans and hospitals and pharmacies and other things consolidating—increases their market dominance, which allows them to negotiate higher prices for the exact same service they were delivering before.
So, consolidation has been shown to increase the cost of healthcare, decrease the choice that patients have, and the choice that doctors have, and, if you’re lucky, the quality stays the same.
Empowering Teams Begins With Human Connection: Missy Hopson, PhD
April 16th 2025Missy Hopson, PhD, Ochsner Health, discussed in detail the challenges of strengthening the patient-centered workforce, the power of community reputation for encouraging health care careers, and the influence of empowered workforces on patient outcomes.
Read More
Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
Listen
Navigating Sport-Related Neurospine Injuries, Surgery, and Managed Care
February 25th 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Arthur L. Jenkins III, MD, FACS, CEO of Jenkins NeuroSpine, to explore the intersection of advanced surgical care for sport-related neurospine injuries and managed care systems.
Listen
High-Impact Trials at ACC.25 Signal Shift in Chronic Disease Treatment
April 4th 2025Experts highlight groundbreaking research presented at the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25), which emphasized a shift toward more personalized, evidence-based treatment strategies.
Read More
Bridging Education Gaps in Treatment for Scarring Alopecia With Innovative Approaches
March 28th 2025Crystal Aguh, MD, FAAD, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine faculty, highlights the critical need for comprehensive education on hair loss across diverse hair types, stressing the importance of understanding inflammatory pathways for developing targeted therapies.
Read More
