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?
![]()
Featured Work
Recent Publications
- The Current Era of Health Care Consolidation
- Private Equity Acquisitions In Primary Care: Changes In Utilization, Spending, And Workforce
- Rhode Island’s Affordability Standards Led To Substantial Reductions In Hospital Staffing And Labor Costs By 2022
- Hospital–Medicare Advantage vertical integration and medical loss ratios
- Private Equity Acquisition in Primary Care and Avoidable Hospitalizations
- Patients Deserve Price Tags: Independent Cost Savings Estimate (Working Paper)
Related Policy Materials
- Hospital Price Effects of Advocate’s and Atrium’s Recent Cross-Market Transactions
- Testimony: Addressing Health Care Affordability Through Transparency
- Policy Options for the Texas House Select Committee on Health Care Affordability
- Estimated Impact of a Facility Fee Ban for Routine Services in Illinois
- Testimony: The Impact of Hospital Markets on Health Care Affordability for Texans
- Testimony: Impact of Hospital Price Regulations on Health Care Spending: Lessons from Price Regulations in Other States (Maine)
Private Equity State Tracker
The Private Equity State Tracker allows users to explore trends in private equity acquisitions in health care over time.
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
-
Christopher M. Whaley Ph.D.
Associate Director for the Center for Advancing Health Policy Through Research, 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.
Thomas J. and Alice M. Tisch Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice -
Xiaoxi Zhao Ph.D.
Lead Research Scientist
Our funders:







