Tune in to part two of our two-part panel series focused on how concentration in the American hospital sector is creating a crisis in care quality.

There is real potential for a new mass movement of patient-activists and mission-driven providers dedicated to making sure that those who control our health care system serve the public interest.

The U.S. health care system is increasingly dominated by monopolistic corporations. They own and operate most of our local health care delivery systems, including hospitals and doctors’ practices. 

These giant platforms also control many of the local markets for health insurance, giving them the ability to operate as both providers and purchasers of health care. As this concentration of corporate power increases, physicians, nurses, and other frontline health care professionals find their working conditions deteriorating, as they are forced to maximize corporate margins at the expense of patient health and their social mission.

Guests:

• Phillip Longman, policy director at Open Markets Institute; co-author of “An Epidemic of Greed” in the July special issue of Washington Monthly; author of Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Health Care is Better than Yours

• Shannon Brownlee, senior vice president, Lown Institute; author of Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer 

• Udit Thakur, research associate, Open Markets Institute; co-author of “An Epidemic of Greed” in the July special issue of Washington Monthly; labor and public-interest organizer

• Lisa Frank, executive vice president of SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, the state’s largest and fastest growing union of nurses and health care workers. SEIU unites more than a million caregivers committed to creating industry standards and governmental policies that allow all people to enjoy good health.

• Kavita Patel, practicing primary care physician and nonresident fellow, Brookings Institution; former director of policy for the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement, Obama administration

Related Materials:

• Watch part one of this series here, which focuses on how to better rank hospitals based on how well they save lives, save money, and serve all communities, using the Washington Monthly and Lown Institute “Best Hospitals for America” ranking.