Markets and Competition
Over 70% of U.S. physicians are now employed by corporate entities, health systems, or private equity–backed firms. These shifts are reshaping how care is delivered, priced, and accessed.
Markets and Competition
Over 70% of U.S. physicians are now employed by corporate entities, health systems, or private equity–backed firms. These shifts are reshaping how care is delivered, priced, and accessed.
About the Markets and Competition Lab
The Markets and Competition Lab examines how evolving ownership models and financial incentives influence health care prices, quality, and market structure. Ongoing projects span private equity investment, vertical integration, hospital price regulation, and insurer market dynamics. Our research bridges economics, law, and policy to identify strategies that maintain a competitive and equitable health care system.
The Big Questions
- How can states and the federal government control health care spending without compromising access?
- What are the trends in the corporatization of medicine, and who are the main financial players?
- How do ownership changes affect quality, workforce stability, and patient outcomes?
- What policies can effectively address rising health care consolidation?
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Featured Work
Recent Publications
- Commercial Insurers Paid More For Procedures At Hospital Outpatient Departments Than At Ambulatory Surgical Centers
- Hospital- And Private Equity–Affiliated Specialty Physicians Negotiate Higher Prices Than Independent Physicians
- Pharmaceutical Wholesalers — Under-the-Radar Middlemen?
- Growth of Hospital Affiliations in California: Impact on Hospital Charges and Quality
Events & Policy Discussions
- Roundtable: Profit Over Quality: Examining the Effects of Private Equity on Veteran Healthcare
- Higher Costs, Less Competition: The Rise of Vertical Integration in the U.S. Health Care System
- Understanding Site-Neutral Payment Policies – A Potential Path to Reduce Healthcare Costs
- Private Equity Investments in Physician Practices in Maryland
Visualizing the Impact of the Hospital Payment Caps
The Hospital Payment Cap Simulator provides anyone from policymakers to researchers with insights into how much state employee plans across the US could save from hospital payment caps and the impact on commercial hospital operating margins.
From Statehouses to Capitol Hill
Turning Evidence Into Policy
Experts
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Christopher M. Whaley Ph.D.
Markets and Competition Lab Lead, Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice -
Daniel Arnold Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist -
Jason Buxbaum Ph.D., MHSA
Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice -
Roslyn C. Murray Ph.D., MPP
Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice -
Yashaswini Singh Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice
Our funders:

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