In a series of books published in the 1980s, Paul Starr, a professor of sociology and public affairs and the Stuart Professor of Communications and Public Affairs at Princeton University, predicted a future in which corporations would consolidate ownership and control until the U.S. health care system became “an industry dominated by huge health care conglomerates.”
In other words, Starr saw the coming corporatization of health care. In 1984, Starr’s book, “The Social Transformation of American Medicine,” won the Pulitzer Prize in the general nonfiction category.
On June 28, 2025, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article, “Defining Health Care ‘Corporatization,” by Erin C. Fuse Brown, a professor of Health Services, Policy, and Practice at the Brown University School of Public Health. In her article, she explained Starr’s definition, saying the corporatization of health care would proceed in five ways:
- A shift from nonprofit and government organization to for-profit companies;
- A horizontal consolidation of locally controlled entities to nationally or regionally controlled corporations;
- A shift from single-unit and single-market companies to conglomerate enterprises;
- A vertical consolidation among insurers and other payers and different levels of care delivery;
- An increasing concentration, size and scope of organizations.