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Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research

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.

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Our Markets & Competition Portfolio

Dive into our work on markets and competition — from academic research to policy briefs and real-world commentary.

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Have a question or want to get in touch with us?

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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

  • 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.

Explore the tool

From Statehouses to Capitol Hill

Turning Evidence Into Policy

  • Our Work in Federal Policy
  • Our Work in State Policy

Experts

  • Chris Whaley

    Christopher M. Whaley Ph.D.

    Markets and Competition Lab Lead, Associate Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice
    christopher_whaley@brown.edu
  • arnold

    Daniel Arnold Ph.D.

    Senior Research Scientist
    daniel_arnold@brown.edu
  • Jason Buxbaum

    Jason Buxbaum Ph.D., MHSA

    Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice
    jason_buxbaum@brown.edu
  • Roslyn C. Murray

    Roslyn C. Murray Ph.D., MPP

    Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice
    roslyn_murray@brown.edu
  • Singh

    Yashaswini Singh Ph.D.

    Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice
    yashaswini_singh@brown.edu

Recent News

show all markets & Competition news
An Arm and a Leg

Some more things that didn’t suck in 2025

December 11, 2025
"New state laws tackle the burden of medical debt and the corporate take-over of medicine."
Read Article
The Economist

How to lower America’s soaring health-care costs

November 20, 2025
Meaningful opportunities to reduce U.S. health-care costs already exist but are often overshadowed by the focus on more politically prominent proposals.
Read Article
A Health Podyssey

Podcast: Does UnitedHealthcare Pay Optum Providers Differently? w/ Dan Arnold

November 18, 2025
Interview by Rob Lott
Read Article
KFF Health News

As Health Companies Get Bigger, So Do the Bills. It’s Unclear if Trump’s Team Will Intervene.

November 10, 2025
The article explains how growing consolidation among insurers, hospitals, and physician groups is driving higher prices and fewer choices for patients, while current antitrust tools struggle to keep up with these increasingly complex mergers.
Read Article
Fierce Healthcare

Study suggests UnitedHealthcare pays Optum docs more than other providers

November 4, 2025
Researchers found UnitedHealthcare paid 17% more to Optum than to other providers.
Read Article
Healthcare Dive

UnitedHealthcare pays Optum doctors more than other doctors: study

November 4, 2025
Researchers said the results suggest UnitedHealth may be sidestepping government rules meant to keep a lid on exorbitant payer profits.
Read Article

Our funders:

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Commonwealth Fund logo

NIHCM Foundation logo

Patient Rights Advocate

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Our Markets & Competition Portfolio

Dive into our work on markets and competition — from academic research to policy briefs and real-world commentary.

View all
CAHPR logo

Have a question or want to get in touch with us?

Email us
Brown University School of Public Health
Providence RI 02903 401-863-3375 public_health@brown.edu

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