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.California Attorney General Imposes Conditions of Price Cap and Prohibition of Anticompetitive Practices on Cross-Market Acquisition in Northern California
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 14, 2021
California is one of the leading states in healthcare antitrust enforcement. Following the footsteps of former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who led the antitrust lawsuit against northern California hospital giant Sutter Health, the new attorney general Rob Bonta continues to exercise the AG’s expansive authority with aggressive enforcement actions in the California provider market. Earlier in the summer, the AG’s office settled a lawsuit filed by Cedars-Sinai Health System and Huntington Memorial Hospital, with revised competitive impact conditions on the cross-market affiliation in Southern California to address potential harms …
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Join a Webinar on State Approaches to Mitigating Health Provider Consolidation and Its Effects on Prices
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 7, 2021
Increasingly, hospitals have merged to form dominant health systems that can exert market power and charge anticompetitive prices that increase health care prices and burden the economy. A recent series of Milbank Memorial Fund issue briefs by researchers from the Source for Healthcare Price on Competition identified specific state policies and practices that can deter health care provider concentration, including improved merger review, oversight of anticompetitive conduct, and bans on potentially anticompetitive contract terms that apply to health insurers and providers. On October 21 at 3 p.m., ET, the Milbank …
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Spotlight on State: Pennsylvania
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 5, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Pennsylvania page. Pennsylvania is a leader in antitrust enforcement of its healthcare provider market with a robust set of review protocol for nonprofit hospital transactions. The state attorney general has oversight authority which requires notice of all nonprofit health entity transactions with review and based on consideration of public interest and antitrust implications. …
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The Source Team Co-Authors NEJM Article on State Public Option Plans
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor September 16, 2021
As states like Nevada, Colorado, and Washington push forward with their state public option efforts, a new article in New England Journal of Medicine, co-authored by Erin Fuse Brown and The Source’s Katie Gudiksen and Jaime King, takes a closer look at the key provisions of each of the plans. The article discusses potential challenges to these state public option plans and most importantly, whether they can effectively improve healthcare coverage and affordability. Listen to Erin Fuse Brown discuss lessons from these states in a podcast for NEJM.
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Hackensack Meridian/Englewood Merger Heads to Appeals Pending FTC Trial
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor September 14, 2021
Hackensack Meridian Health’s proposed acquisition of Englewood Healthcare Foundation is the latest case to watch amidst increased federal antitrust scrutiny of healthcare mergers. While the FTC’s preliminary injunction against the merger was approved by the New Jersey district court early last month, the entities continue to put up a fight pending the FTC administrative trial set for October. In this post, The Source provides a recap of the latest development in the case and a preview of what’s to come. FTC Challenge to Block Merger Hackensack Meridian Health, formed …
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Spotlight on State: Tennessee
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor September 11, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Tennessee page. The Tennessee Legislature has been active in promoting price transparency in health care. The state passed the Tennessee Right to Shop Act in 2019 to induce consumer price shopping. An insurance carrier is allowed to provide incentives for enrollees who elect to receive a comparable healthcare service from a network provider, for …
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[Sutter Case Watch] Court Approval of Final Settlement Concludes State Antitrust Action Against Sutter Health
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor August 30, 2021
See case page: UFCW & Employers Benefit Trust v. Sutter Health On August 27, nearly two years after the parties reached a proposed settlement agreement, Judge Anne-Christine Massullo of the San Francisco Superior gave the final approval to the settlement of the high profile antitrust case against Sutter Health. The final settlement was stalled several times along the way, first due to the coronavirus pandemic, then the court’s rejection of the compliance monitor, and most recently disputes over attorney fees, which was the subject of the preliminary approval hearing on July …
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Spotlight on State: Utah
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor August 20, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Utah page. Utah was one of the first states to operate an APCD, and claims to be the first to begin tracking and analyzing episodes of care, an important feature of risk-sharing based payment systems for states looking to reduce private payer and Medicaid expenditures. The state also enacted a right to shop …
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Spotlight on State: Vermont
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor August 17, 2021
This is part of a series of summaries that highlight notable legislation and initiatives in health policy and reform of all 50 states. Check back on The Source as we roll out additional states each week. See Vermont page. Vermont has been active in cost containment and transparency through a number of state planning initiatives, rate and premium control, and the VHCURES all-payer claims database. Most notably, Vermont attempted to be the first state to operate a single-payer healthcare system, Green Mountain Care, in 2011; however, the state gave up on the …
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Cedars-Sinai/Huntington Cross-Market Affiliation Settle with Revised Competitive Impact Conditions
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor August 16, 2021
Healthcare entities have continued to actively pursue proposed mergers and affiliations during —and in part driven by— the coronavirus pandemic. Since the settlement of the Sutter Health antitrust lawsuit, the proposed affiliation of Cedars-Sinai Health System and Huntington Memorial Hospital in California has emerged as the leading case that has captured the attention of health policy experts as to its antitrust implications. The Source also weighed in on the case with an amicus brief filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court. In this post, we further detail the background …
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