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The Price Effects of Hospital Mergers: A Case Study of the Sutter-Summit Transaction

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  • Steven Tenn

Abstract

We conduct a retrospective study of the Sutter-Summit hospital merger to assess whether antitrust enforcement in this matter was appropriate. This consummated merger combined two hospitals located close together in the Oakland-Berkeley region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The greater metropolitan area contained many other hospitals that offered a similar range of services, but which were located farther away. A central issue raised by the Sutter-Summit transaction was whether travel costs were low enough such that these hospitals were a sufficient constraint on the merging parties to prevent an anticompetitive price increase. We use detailed claims data from three large health insurers to compare the post-merger price change for the merging parties to the price change for a set of control-group hospitals. Our results show that Summit's price increase was among the largest of any comparable hospital in California, indicating this transaction may have been anticompetitive.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven Tenn, 2011. "The Price Effects of Hospital Mergers: A Case Study of the Sutter-Summit Transaction," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 65-82.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ijecbs:v:18:y:2011:i:1:p:65-82
    DOI: 10.1080/13571516.2011.542956
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gaynor, Martin & Vogt, William B., 2000. "Antitrust and competition in health care markets," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 27, pages 1405-1487, Elsevier.
    2. Cory S. Capps & David Dranove & Shane Greenstein & Mark Satterthwaite, 2001. "The Silent Majority Fallacy of the Elzinga-Hogarty Criteria: A Critique and New Approach to Analyzing Hospital Mergers," NBER Working Papers 8216, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Robert Town & Douglas Wholey & Roger Feldman & Lawton R. Burns, 2006. "The Welfare Consequences of Hospital Mergers," NBER Working Papers 12244, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

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    3. Hill, Elaine L. & Slusky, David J.G. & Ginther, Donna K., 2019. "Reproductive health care in Catholic-owned hospitals," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 48-62.
    4. Zack Cooper & Stuart V Craig & Martin Gaynor & John Van Reenen, 2019. "The Price Ain’t Right? Hospital Prices and Health Spending on the Privately Insured," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(1), pages 51-107.
    5. Maysam Rabbani, 2021. "Non-profit hospital mergers: the effect on healthcare costs and utilization," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 427-455, December.
    6. Gaynor, Martin & Town, Robert J., 2011. "Competition in Health Care Markets," Handbook of Health Economics, in: Mark V. Pauly & Thomas G. Mcguire & Pedro P. Barros (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 499-637, Elsevier.
    7. Cory S. Capps & Dennis W. Carlton & Guy David, 2020. "Antitrust Treatment Of Nonprofits: Should Hospitals Receive Special Care?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(3), pages 1183-1199, July.
    8. Anne‐Fleur Roos & Ramsis R. Croes & Victoria Shestalova & Marco Varkevisser & Frederik T. Schut, 2019. "Price effects of a hospital merger: Heterogeneity across health insurers, hospital products, and hospital locations," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(9), pages 1130-1145, September.
    9. Martin Gaynor & Kate Ho & Robert J. Town, 2015. "The Industrial Organization of Health-Care Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(2), pages 235-284, June.
    10. Thomas Koch & Shawn W. Ulrick, 2021. "Price Effects Of A Merger: Evidence From A Physicians' Market," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(2), pages 790-802, April.
    11. Owsley, Kelsey M. & Lindrooth, Richard C., 2022. "Understanding the relationship between nonprofit hospital community benefit spending and system membership: An analysis of independent hospital acquisitions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    12. Franco Mariuzzo & Peter L. Ormosi, 2017. "Post-merger price dynamics matter, so why do merger retrospectives ignore them?," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) 2016-05, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    13. R. Forrest McCluer & Martha A. Starr, 2013. "Using Difference in Differences to Estimate Damages in Healthcare Antitrust: A Case Study of Marshfield Clinic," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 447-469, November.
    14. Orley Ashenfelter & Daniel Hosken & Matthew Weinberg, 2014. "Did Robert Bork Understate the Competitive Impact of Mergers? Evidence from Consummated Mergers," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(S3), pages 67-100.
    15. Schmid, Andreas & Varkevisser, Marco, 2016. "Hospital merger control in Germany, the Netherlands and England: Experiences and challenges," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(1), pages 16-25.
    16. Stuart V. Craig & Matthew Grennan & Ashley Swanson, 2021. "Mergers and marginal costs: New evidence on hospital buyer power," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 52(1), pages 151-178, March.
    17. Orley Ashenfelter & Daniel Hosken & Michael Vita & Matthew Weinberg, 2011. "Retrospective Analysis of Hospital Mergers," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 5-16.
    18. Helda Azevedo & Céu Mateus, 2014. "Cost effects of hospital mergers in Portugal," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 15(9), pages 999-1010, December.
    19. Daniel S. Hosken & Luke M. Olson & Loren K. Smith, 2018. "Do retail mergers affect competition? Evidence from grocery retailing," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 3-22, March.
    20. Zarek Brot-Goldberg & Zack Cooper & Stuart V. Craig & Lev R. Klarnet & Ithai Lurie & Corbin L. Miller, 2024. "Who Pays for Rising Health Care Prices? Evidence from Hospital Mergers," NBER Working Papers 32613, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    Keywords

    Hospital; Merger; Antitrust;
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