An interesting finding: larger markets such as New York City or Chicago tended to have less-concentrated markets; smaller metro areas tended to have the most-concentrated markets. (Photo: Shutterstock)

A new report from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) finds that concentration of health care facilities is growing, along with health care prices, while at the same time usage levels of health care services have been decreasing.

The new report is available as an interactive website that allows visitors to check the data on specific metro areas and compare data between cities. The HCCI's "Healthy Marketplace Index" provides details from 112 metro areas in 43 states. The group's site uses data from more than 1.8 billion health care claims of commercial health plans during the period of 2012 to 2016.

HCCI's work, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, supports other research that suggests concentration in health care markets is linked to reduced competition and increased costs. However, the researchers note that there can be wide variations of health care usage, cost, and concentration between—and even within—metro areas.