Skip Navigation

After Appalachian hospitals merged into a monopoly, their ERs slowed to a crawl

kffhealthnews.org After Appalachian Hospitals Merged Into a Monopoly, Their ERs Slowed to a Crawl - KFF Health News

Ballad Health was granted the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly in 2018. Since then, its emergency rooms have become more than three times as slow.

After Appalachian Hospitals Merged Into a Monopoly, Their ERs Slowed to a Crawl - KFF Health News

Ballad Health, a 20-hospital system in the Tri-Cities region of Tennessee and Virginia, benefits from the largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly in the United States. In the six years since lawmakers in both states waived anti-monopoly laws and Ballad was formed, ER visits for patients sick enough to be hospitalized grew more than three times as long and now far exceed the criteria set by state officials, according to Ballad reports released by the Tennessee Department of Health.

Tennessee and Virginia have so far announced no steps to reduce time spent in Ballad ERs. The Tennessee health department, which has a more direct role in regulating Ballad, has each year issued a report saying the agreement that gave Ballad a monopoly “continues to provide a Public Advantage.” Department officials have twice declined to comment to KFF Health News on Ballad’s performance.

According to Ballad’s latest annual report, which was released this month and spans from July 2022 to June 2023, the median time that patients spend in Ballad ERs before being admitted to the hospital is nearly 11 hours. This statistic includes both time spent waiting and time being treated in the ER and excludes patients who weren’t admitted or left the ER without receiving care.

34
Hacker News @lemmy.smeargle.fans bot @lemmy.smeargle.fans
BOT
After Appalachian Hospitals Merged into a Monopoly, Their ERs Slowed to a Crawl

You're viewing a single thread.

34 comments
You've viewed 34 comments.