In a comment, steve makes a good point, “[T]he rumor is that my hospital is going to buy up practices in anticipation of an ACO model.” This is consistent with what I blogged several days ago. Providers and insurers are consolidating now in anticipation of Medicare payment system reform that will reward integrated delivery systems.
This is interesting because we don’t yet know for sure what the new payment system reform will be. Whether it really rewards consolidation or not, consolidation is what we’re getting.
