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  Private health groups may have to sell hospitals, competition watchdog rules
  
  Commission says 20 sites may have to be sold to stop lack of competition pushing up prices
  
  The Competition Commission said most patients in UK private hospitals are paying more than they
  
  should for treatment because of a lack of local competition. Photograph: OJO Images/Rex Features
  
  Britain's largest private hospital groups will have to sell up to 20 hospitals and end incentive schemes
  
  that encourage doctors to send patients to particular private providers in return for cash, the
  
  competition watchdog has recommended.
  
  The Competition Commission, which began investigating the private healthcare sector in April last
  
  year, found much anti-competitive behaviour in the market, and criticised four of the five biggest
  
  operators for generating excessive profits.
  
  The result, says the commission, is that most patients in UK private hospitals are paying more than
  
  they should for treatment because of a lack of local competition.
  
  The report said: "There is a causal relationship between self-pay prices and local concentration.
  
  Private hospital operators, on average, currently charge somewhat higher prices in local areas where
  
  they face fewer competitive constraints."
  
  More than 100 private hospitals around the UK are in areas with little rival healthcare provision,
  
  said the commission.

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