End ObamaCare’s Ban on Physician-Owned Hospitals

A little-known Affordable Care Act provision stifles competition and drives Medicare costs up

By James Lankford and Brian J. Miller. Excerpts:

"A tiny paragraph in the enormous Affordable Care Act prohibits physicians from building or owning hospitals. Any existing physician-owned hospital built before 2010 is prohibited from growing beyond the size it was when the bill passed."

"likely contributing to higher prices for Medicare and reduced access to treatment for millions of Americans."

"Government price controls for Medicare have failed to keep costs down, as program costs have grown 5.9% a year over the past decade."

"The current political debate has focused on the effects of monopoly power and consolidation across industries, including healthcare. The Biden administration’s executive order on competition specifically mentions hospital consolidation and subsequent rising costs. Yet political leaders overlook the most obvious way to increase healthcare options: letting doctor-owned and -managed facilities grow as they did before 2010."

"Specialty physician-owned hospitals focused on cardiology and cardiac surgery were found to deliver higher-quality care than nonprofit hospitals, with lower rates of hospital readmission or mortality for high-risk surgery. Physician-owned specialty hospitals for orthopedic procedures, such as hip and knee replacements, offered lower costs and higher quality than nonprofit counterparts."

"Allowing doctors to own and run hospitals would give rural communities another option to maintain local high-quality care and encourage local investment in existing hospitals."