The States Where Hospitals are Most Concentrated

A new analysis from Yale’s Health Care Affordability Lab highlights how hospital consolidation may be contributing to rising health care costs across the U.S. The report found every hospital in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming operates in a highly concentrated market, with Maine and Montana close behind.

Over the past two decades, roughly 1,300 mergers have occurred among about 5,000 U.S. hospitals, while federal regulators have challenged relatively few deals. Researchers note rural geography can limit the number of viable hospitals in some areas.

The analysis comes as hospitals accounted for about 40% of national health spending growth between 2022 and 2024, according to KFF. Read the full story from Axios here.