Strome Business Minute With Dr. Jeff Tanner

I’m Jeff Tanner, Dean of the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University and this is a Strome Business Minute. Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health continues to acquire Virginia hospitals, buying Petersburg’s 300 bed Southside Regional Medical Center, the 105 bed Southampton Memorial Hospital in Franklin and the 80 bed Southern Virginia Regional Medical Center in Emporia. All three were purchased from Community Health Systems, a Tennessee-based company operating hospitals in 17 states. With the sale, Community Health exits the Virginia market, while Bon Secours now operates forty eight hospitals in seven states and Ireland. A Robert Wood Johnson study found that when consolidation of hospitals concentrates market power, price increases and quality decreases. It’s unclear whether these changes concentrate market power any further but it’s basic economics: Without competition, there is less incentive to provide higher quality care and to maintain lower costs. To find out more, visit odu.edu/busi