Kevin Roche

Cencora, formerly Amerisource Bergen, a large drug wholesaler, is acquiring a greater equity stake in American Oncology Network.  All three of the major drug wholesalers have interests in oncology companies.  Why?  So they can push very expensive cancer drugs through those practices and so they can eliminate competition by consolidating oncology practices.  It is another prime cause of excessive health spending and it should be banned and divestiture forced.  At what point are policymakers finally going to understand that non-physician ownership of physician practices benefits no one, whether the owner is a hospital, a drug company of some type, a private equity firm or a health plan.  It creates misery for the doctors and it inevitably results in higher prices with no gain in outcomes.  We need to return to a competitive situation in which only doctors can own and control practices and there is limited consolidation.