A new study finds that when hospitals acquire physician practices, those doctors raise their prices by 15% within 2 years compared to independent peers. Healthcare M&A should be about integration and efficiencies. Too often, it's just about leveraging higher reimbursements rates.

Virtually all physician practice acquisitions fall below the threshold for mandatory antitrust review. Thus hospitals, private equity, and even insurers are able to consolidate physicians, gaining market power in local markets to extract higher rates.