About: Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor
Amy Y. Gu, J.D. is the Managing Editor for the Source on Healthcare Price & Competition. She holds a J.D. from Loyola Law School and a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the Source, she practiced civil litigation in the San Francisco Bay Area, and later engaged in corporate compliance and discovery, representing various global pharmaceutical companies. Driven by an entrepreneurial mindset and her talents for marketing and web design, Amy also co-founded and successfully launched a startup in e-commerce. She is excited to bring to the Source a unique set of experience and perspective from both law and tech.Source Executive Editor to Appear on Connecticut C-SPAN to Discuss Healthcare Cost Drivers and Solutions
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor February 2, 2023
Updated: February 6, 2023 On Friday, February 3, Source Executive Editor Katie Gudiksen will speak at the Connecticut & U.S. Healthcare Cost Drivers Informational Session II regarding rate review and global budgets. This is an all-day event jointly hosted by the Connecticut Insurance Department, Office of Health Strategy, and Office of the Healthcare Advocate (OHA). It will be broadcast live on Connecticut C-Span @9AM – 3PM EST on https://ct-n.com/ and recorded for future viewing. Updated 2/6: Recording is now available here. Katie’s presentation “Roadmap to Constrain Commercial Health Care Costs” …
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Major Insurers See Antitrust Enforcement Action Headed to Appeals
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor January 17, 2023
We ended 2022 with an update on trends in healthcare provider consolidation and enforcement actions. In this inaugural 2023 issue of Litigation and Enforcement Highlights, we turn to the latest action in healthcare payer enforcement and litigation. Major insurers UnitedHealth and Blue Cross Blue Shield experienced similar antitrust woes lately, as both insurers saw their seemingly finalized lawsuits headed to the appeals court. UnitedHealth Merger Challenge Continues Post-Acquisition The UnitedHealth and Change Healthcare merger lawsuit grabbed headlines at the end of last year. The deal was officially consummated in …
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The Source Roundup: January 2023 Edition
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor January 3, 2023
Happy New Year, Source Readers! We kick off 2023 with highlights of some reports and articles that you may have missed from December. In surprise billing protection efforts, the implementation of the No Surprises Act is hitting unexpected backlogs in the IDR process, while the loophole of ground ambulance surprise bills also warrants further policy attention. Reports on healthcare spending and out-of-pocket costs suggest that healthcare is becoming less affordable as out-of-pocket costs continued to rise. Lastly, a pair of studies on value-based payment models reveal flaws in the systems …
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Healthcare Consolidation Q4 2022: Cross-Market Mergers Continue Apace
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor December 15, 2022
2022 has been an active year in healthcare consolidation as well as for merger challenges and enforcement. As we approach the year end, healthcare deals continued as many entities seek to close the transactions before the new year. Increasingly, as seen in the 4th quarter, healthcare deals are shifting to cross-market transactions, making review and enforcement efforts more challenging. In case you missed it, this final Litigation and Enforcement Highlights of the year will help you catch up on some of the cross-market deals in Q4 2022 that caught our …
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The Source Launches New “Provider Rate Regulation” Interactive Key Issue Pages
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor December 1, 2022
The Source on Healthcare Price & Competition is thrilled to announce the launch of the newest interactive key issue pages in Provider Rate Regulation. Along with a report published in Frontiers in Health Services, this series of key issue pages aim to provide state policymakers with a roadmap of effective strategies to address rapidly increasing prices. In many markets, where existing competition are insufficient to constrain the pricing power of dominant insurers and providers, policymakers need to consider options to directly limit the unrelenting increase of healthcare prices that threatens the affordability of health care for Americans. With support …
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The Source and Various Stakeholders File Amicus Briefs Urging 9th Circuit to Reverse Jury Verdict of Sidibe v. Sutter Health on Appeal
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor November 15, 2022
See case page: Sidibe v. Sutter Health After the state action UEBT v. Sutter Health settled prior to trial, the Sidibe class action in federal court continued to shine the spotlight on hospital giant Sutter Health. In March 2022, a jury verdict in the Northern District Court of California cleared Sutter of anticompetitive allegations in this decade-long case. Class plaintiffs swiftly filed an appeal in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the decision, citing inaccurate jury instructions and exclusion of key evidence that impacted the final outcome of …
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Recapping the 2022 California Legislative Session: What Was and What Wasn’t – Part 2: Promoting Telehealth and Tackling Out-of-Network Costs and Prescription Drug Prices
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor November 13, 2022
In the previous issue of the California Legislative Beat, we recapped noteworthy bills from year two of California’s 2021-2022 legislative term, specifically legislation that sought to regulate healthcare competition and ensure affordable access (see Recapping the 2022 California Legislative Session – Part 1). In this second part of the two-part series, we turn to bills that aimed to eliminate surprise out-of-network costs, advance telehealth, and rein in prescription drug prices, including ones that were signed into law and some important ones that didn’t make the cut. Surprise Out-of-Network Costs …
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Recapping the 2022 California Legislative Session: What Was and What Wasn’t – Part 1: Regulating Competition and Ensuring Affordable Access to Care
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor November 7, 2022
Year two of California’s 2021-2022 legislative term came to an end last month as the Governor signed 997 bills into law and vetoed 169. The state considered healthcare bills that were rolled over from 2021 as well as new ones that were introduced in 2022. At the end of the 2021 session, The Source recapped noteworthy bills impacting healthcare price and competition that were enacted (see blog post). In the 2022 session, the legislature again made efforts to promote healthcare access and affordability in California through several legislative themes. In …
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The Source to Speak at October 27 Virtual Event: Taming Health Insurance Costs for Employers and Employees
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 26, 2022
On October 27, The Source Executive Editor Katie Gudiksen will join a panel of experts for the Bipartisan Policy Center in a virtual event on “Taming Health Insurance Costs for Employers and Employees”. The panel is moderated by Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil and will discuss strategies to rein in health care costs and allow employers to provide high-value, cost-effective insurance to their employees. Be sure to register in advance here! October 27 | 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET | Virtual Participants: Marilyn Serafini (introduction), Executive Director, Health Program, BPC …
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DOJ’s Challenge of the UnitedHealth and Change Healthcare Merger: What Went Wrong and What Does it Mean?
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 17, 2022
The highly scrutinized merger of UnitedHealth Group and Change Healthcare went through in October 2022 shortly after obtaining court approval despite a legal challenge from federal and state regulators. The deal drew criticisms from industry groups and stakeholders largely amid concerns that it would give UnitedHealth access to sensitive data to gain competitive advantage in the market. The Justice Department-led challenge to the merger was seen as a test of the Biden administration’s intensified antitrust enforcement agenda, but the DOJ failed to convince the court to block the allegedly anticompetitive …
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