The American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals have joined forces on changinglandscape.org, a new website that aims to explain how realignment and consolidation of hospital systems can help communities and patients, not hurt them.

Hospital and large health system mergers typically must be reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission and state agencies, which can block the deals if they find the mergers would hurt consumers by reducing competition and raising prices. Since these agencies are under legislators sensitive to public opinion, going on the offense against current criticism of realignment and consolidation in healthcare makes sense.

In broad strokes, the argument against consolidation in healthcare is that larger healthcare systems and hospital networks have greater leverage in negotiations with payors and can use that leverage to win better rates, a cost insurers pass on to plan members (aka, patients). In addition, with more large healthcare systems and fewer small hospitals, patients lose choice in who will provide their healthcare services.

Changinglandscape.org pushes back against these arguments with resources like:

• How Hospital Mergers and Acquisitions Benefit Communities
• Do Structural Changes Drive the Recent Health Care Spending Slowdown? New Evidence
• The Value of Provider Integration

It also points to articles that debunk the argument that mergers decrease competition and raise prices, including:

• Look-back Merger Reviews Flawed
• AHA Says Most Hospital Mergers Not Anticompetitive
• Merger of Maine Hospitals Saves Them $2 Million

Visitors are encouraged to share the information through using the hashtag #realignment and with two infographics:

• Infographic: Insurance Premiums Continue to Outpace Hospital Price Growth
• Infographic: The Reality of Hospital Realignment: Patient & Community Benefits

The launch of the site is an indication of how important this issue has become to hospital group members, especially the larger institutions that see size as one of the key elements for remaining viable in a post healthcare reform future.