Kansas City Hospital Mergers Spike Costs

Here's a peek and one of the most disappointing local prog blogs dutifully filing a post with doubts on the economic progress of the medical industrial complex . . . At the very least, it's something interesting to read whilst in the waiting room wherein the nurses DON'T look like hottie Denise . . . Check-it:

"Consider, for example, the merger of Kansas City’s St. Luke’s Health System with St. Louis-based BJC Health System. When the deal closed Jan. 2, the cross-state neighbors had created one of the country’s largest nonprofit health care systems, with 24 hospitals, 44,000 employees and $10 billion a year in revenue.

"In an industry with rising costs, doctors and nurses in short supply and Goliath insurers holding the purse strings, hospitals feel pressured to grow to survive.

"But an increasing number of economists and consumer advocates warn that the race for size could ultimately hurt patients, bringing higher prices to people on commercial insurance and dwindling access for those on Medicare and Medicaid."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

What St. Luke's merger with BJC means for Kansas City patients

St. Luke's says its merger with St. Louis-based BJC will be good for patients and research, but economists say patients may see higher prices.