For Rural Hospitals That Merged, Inpatient Charges Decreased and Outpatient Charges Increased: A Pre-/Post-Comparison of Rural Hospitals That Merged and Rural Hospitals That Did Not Merge Between 2005 and 2015.
J Duncan WilliamsG Mark HolmesPaula H SongKristin L ReiterGeorge H PinkPublished in: The Journal of rural health : official journal of the American Rural Health Association and the National Rural Health Care Association (2020)
Merging was strongly associated with a decrease in inpatient charges and somewhat associated with an increase in outpatient charges for rural hospitals. Future work could build upon this work to determine whether acquirers reduce or eliminate certain services at rural hospitals after a merger, and ultimately how changes in service delivery could impact patients in those rural communities.