¶ … healthcare sector has experienced a rise in consolidation. However, since the year 2010, the industry has perceived a significant increase in the number of hospital acquisitions, with recommendations being made that this is to some extent owing to the anticipated influence of federal healthcare reform legislation. The purpose for the article is to examine the acquisitions of acute care and community hospitals between the period of January 2010 and March 2012 (Mccue et al., 2015).
How research was conducted
The research was conducted through a sampling process. The authors ascertained American acute care, community hospitals that were acquired between the aforementioned periods. In particular, the research's emphasis was solely on short-term acute care facilities. Data for such acquisitions was obtained from Modern Healthcare. Thereafter, operational and financial data was collected from Medicare Hospital Cost Report Information System and the mean values for every hospital computed. In addition, the authors collected managed care penetration data and market measures. Subsequent to this, the authors used t-tests and chi-square tests to make comparison of the features of acquired hospitals contrast to those of non-acquired hospitals in the course of the research period (Mccue et al., 2015).
The results and other pertinent information
The results of the study indicate that the acquired hospitals were situated and positioned in markets with lesser rates of preferred provider organization (PPO) dissemination in comparison to hospitals that were not acquired. What is more, the results indicated that the rate of occupancy was found to be contrary-wise linked to the rate of acquisition. What is more, the results of the study showed that financial factors adversely linked to the acquisition of a hospital consisted of the age of the plant as well as the cash flow margin. Other pertinent information from the results is that different from the preceding research study outcomes of hospital acquisitions, the results within the article indicated that acquired hospitals were in possession of newer assets. Nonetheless, akin to the outcomes of other studies, the cash flow margin of acquired hospitals was lesser than that of non-acquired hospitals (Mccue et al., 2015).
How the article relates to what you are learning in this unit
The article relates to what I am learning in this unit in the sense that it encompasses mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare industry, and what healthcare reforms have an implication to such alliances.
The meaning or implications of the article's contents, as well as any flaws you find in the article
The implications of the contents of the articles are that hospital acquisitions bring about newer and fresher equipment that facilitate the establishment to apportion resources in dissimilar ways to support investments in infrastructure and be in a fitting position for reform in healthcare. Some of the flaws detected included inadequate data sample to properly examine acquisition within particular states. The article therefore employed dummy and control variables. Another flaw detected is incapability of generalizing data results to the acquisition of smaller critical-access hospitals and specialty hospitals (Mccue et al., 2015).
What could have made the article better?
The article could have been made better with the inclusion of graphs and depictions. This would have made it much easier to understand the data analysis and interpretation.
Was any information left out?
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