经济学人-美国医疗公司-原文.doc

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American hospital companies Bigger and better

商业美国医疗公司整合之潮亦其壮大之势

America's big hospital groups will continue to gobble up competitors

美国大型医疗集团将继续吞并小号医疗公司

HOSTILE takeovers are never polite.

财大气粗的收购商的字典里没有客气二字。

One fight in America, however, has become particularly ugly.

然而，美国的一次收购事件却成为了一则丑闻战。

In December a huge stockmarket-traded hospital company, Community

Health Systems, announced that it wanted to buy another, Tenet Healthcare,

for $3.3 billion.

大型上市公司社区保健医院 (CYH) 在十二月宣布，它想再收购一家公司——以 22 亿美元收购泰尼特保健 (TNH) 。

The bid soon became a brawl.

此次收购出价迅速演变成一场争夺战。

In the saga's most recent chapter, Tenet filed a lawsuit accusing Community

of overbilling government and private health-insurance schemes.

战斗打了好几个回合，最近一次，泰尼特提起了诉讼，控告社区保健医院过分干预政府和个人

的医疗保险计划。

Community denies this and, as The Economist went to press, was due to present

a more detailed rebuttal.

为了给出更有利的回击，本刊刊登时，社区保健医院对上述指控矢口否认。

Although this bid battle has become unusually rancorous, it is in line with a

broader trend of consolidation in the huge but fragmented business of

providing hospital care.

尽管此次出价战不同于一般的敌意收购，但它更倾向于是一种医疗业整合趋势——将大而散的美国医院整合起来。

In 2009 America's hospitals soaked up one-third of all national health-care

spending, or $759 billion, roughly equal to the entire GDP of the Netherlands.

2009 年，美国医院就吸金 7590 亿美元，占整个国家医疗保健费用的三分之一，大约相当于荷

兰整整一年的国内生产总值。

In the long term an ageing population will produce more invalids and thus more

business.

从长远来看，人口老龄化将产生更多医疗需求，从而带动医疗业的发展。

In 2014 the "Obamacare" health reforms will bring 32m newly insured patients.

到 2014年，奥巴马医疗改革方案将使医保人数新增3200万。

The less good news is that the health reforms also bring new regulations and

argument for intense pressure to contain costs. This is strengthening the

consolidation among hospital operators.

不过坏消息是，医疗改革方案所产生的新的规章制度让政府不得不缩紧裤腰带来应付节省

开支带来的压力。

Mergers are nothing new in the industry.

在医疗行业中合并不过是老生常谈。

In 1979 only 31% of America's hospitals were part of a larger hospital system. 1979年，仅有31%的美国医院属于大型医院。

By 2001 more than half were.

到 2001年，该比例超过了50% 。

The rationale for joining a larger chain is simple. It means better capital for renovation and expansion,better management important — more clout when negotiating treatment prices with health insurers.

access to and —most

加入大型医院并购圈的原因再简单不过——为了得到更新设备、引进设备、开发设备的资金，为了加强管理，最重要的是，为了在医疗保险金上与医疗保险公司谈判时拥有强有力的发言权。

Now, the health reforms are piling on the pressure to merge.

如今，医疗改革给合并上的压力再加一码。

Obamacare requires hospitals to invest heavily in technology,even as the government cuts payments for treatments.

奥巴马方案一方面要求医院在技术方面下重金，另一方面却不管政府在医疗费用上日销月铄。Hospitals will increasingly have to demonstrate the quality of their services.

医院将越来越能显示出政府公共事业机构的建设质量。

Small hospitals may struggle to meet such demands; bigger groups will be better equipped. Besides, now is a good time to be doing deals, says Gary Lieberman of Wells Fargo.

小医院可能会努力满足需求，大公司将会尽力提高医疗条件，此外，富国银行的盖里?利伯曼还说，现在正是兼并交涉的大好时机。

Credit markets have offered favourable terms to hospital groups raising money.

信用市场为医疗集团集资提供的有利的条件。

And thanks to the downturn there has been ample supply of not-for-profit hospitals for sale.

由于经济危机，有相当数量的非营利性医院待售。

Community's bid for Tenet is the biggest deal now in the works.The combined

companies would have annual revenues of $22 billion, second only to HCA, which last month raised $3.79 billion in an initial public offering (IPO).

社区保健医院对泰尼特保健的收购是正在酝酿中的一笔最大的买卖：并购后的公司将产生

220亿美元的年收入，仅次于美国医院社团( 上月首次公开募股筹资37.9亿美元) 。

But plenty of smaller deals are going on.

除此之外，还有大量的小型并购正在进行中。

Vanguard Health Systems,which this month filed for an IPO, has bought hospitals in Detroit, Chicago and Arizona in the past year. HCA seems likely

to use at least some of its IPO cash to make more acquisitions.

去年一年中，先锋卫生系统公司它在底特律、芝加哥、亚利桑那州均收购了医院，它于上月申请首次公开募股，并很有可能用一部分或者全部的募股资金来收购更多的医院。

Big hospital operators must still grapple with Obamacare's new requirements.

大型医院还要继续应对奥巴马方案的新要求。

And in some cases, growing larger brings its own challenges.

在某些情况下，扩大规模也就给自己带来了相应的麻烦。

Vicki Bryan of Gimme Credit, a bond-research firm, worries that Vanguard's