Hospital Market Consolidation and Access to Quality Healthcare in New Jersey

New Jersey has experienced substantial hospital mergers and acquisition activity in recent years leading to highly concentrated healthcare markets. This project will examine whether adverse healthcare access and quality consequences have arisen from hospital market consolidation in New Jersey. Based on theory and empirical evidence, we hypothesize that growing concentration has widened gaps in access to high quality health services, especially among historically underserved populations. This project will document: 1) trends in NJ hospital market consolidation over 14 years (2010-2023), 2) the association of consolidation with healthcare access and quality, and 3) the extent to which this association exacerbates preexisting disparities in access and quality experienced by people of color, the uninsured, and those covered by Medicaid.