The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced the publication of a peer-reviewed journal article from its Physician 6(b) study. The paper, appearing in the May 2025 issue of Health Affairs Scholar, provides insights into physician merger activities across 15 states from 2015 to 2020.
According to the study, approximately 2,000 physician mergers occurred during this period. It characterizes these mergers by highlighting several trends: "38% of doctors worked for a group that acquired other doctors; the typical merger involves a much larger firm acquiring a much smaller one; 40% of mergers involve a hospital system." Additionally, it notes that most acquirers make only one acquisition within the same specialty and identifies numerous serial acquirers, many being health systems. Furthermore, "42% of mergers had some degree of competitive overlap between the parties, as measured by diversion ratios of above 5%."
The FTC's Bureau of Economics continues its tradition of researching competition in healthcare markets with this study. The agency plans to release more findings based on data from the Physician 6(b) study.
The published paper can be accessed under the title: "Physician mergers involve 38% of doctors, substantial health system participation, and frequent serial acquisition."
