The Source Blog

On March 6, 2026, New Mexico enacted HB306, the “Fair Pricing for Routine Medical Care Act”, to prohibit charging of healthcare facility fees for certain services, to require the disclosure of facility fees to patients, and to require the reporting of facility fees to the all-payer claims database.  The bill prohibits hospitals and clinics from charging outpatient facility fees, which many hospital systems add to bills for healthcare services at facilities they own.  The bill imposes special requirements for uninsured patients, as well as for rural clinics and emergency departments […]

For 2026, California is in the second year of a two-year legislative session.  And while a significant number of bills have carried over from last year, we are seeing the introduction of new bills for 2026.  With economic uncertainty and reduced federal funds, the state is facing challenges.  However, lawmakers are still pursuing some ambitious goals for this year, with a focus on expanding and protecting coverage, Medi-Cal payments, provider professional practice, and drug regulations.  Below, we look at some of the new legislation introduced in California for 2026 that […]

Healthcare Costs Growth In National Health Expenditures: It’s Not The Prices, Stupid Health Affairs Michael Chernew The article seeks to identify the causes of rising healthcare costs by assessing trends across sectors, including coding intensity, AI medical services, product costs, and healthcare consolidation and administrative shifts. Chernew reports that coding intensity has increased and explores the possible relationship to AI medical services, though notes it may be too early to identify any trends. Broad healthcare infrastructure changes show conflicting trends in prices, and the author advocates for more focus on […]

Several states passed legislation on key healthcare issues in the 2025 legislative session, including new laws addressing noncompete clauses, prior authorization, and price and ownership transparency. This article highlights five states that have passed significant legislation on healthcare pricing and competition in 2025. Indiana, Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Arkansas have all had ambitious sessions this year regarding healthcare reform; below, we highlight some of the key bills recently passed by these states. Indiana Indiana had an ambitious year in 2025, enacting several significant pieces of healthcare legislation. Having new laws […]

Health Care Consolidation and System Reform Health Care Consolidation: Published Estimates of the Extent and Effects of Physician Consolidation Government Accountability Office In 2023, Congress directed the Government Accountability Office to study the extent of healthcare consolidation, the potential role of private equity, and the effects on healthcare quality, access, spending, and costs. The GAO reviewed peer-reviewed empirical studies and reports from January 2021 through July 2025, and interviewed stakeholders, including physicians, hospitals, insurers, private equity firms, retail companies, and employees. The article cited available data sources, including PECOS, insurer […]

Primary Care Impact of primary care market mergers on quality: Evidence from the English NHS (Journal of Health Economics) Yuan Lyu, Zhaocheng Zhang This article examines the growing trend of market consolidation among primary care providers and assesses the impact of mergers and acquisitions on the English primary care market. The authors first look at the reasons behind primary care mergers.  They identify the three most significant issues as practitioners retiring (causing a small practice to merge with another), offices consolidating functions to practice more efficiently, and failing practices merging with […]

State policy makers have worked to address the complexities of noncompete clauses, especially for healthcare workers, for some time. These state efforts have become even more critical in light of federal efforts stalling. Background on Noncompete Clauses Noncompete clauses are terms in contracts between employees and employers that prevent workers, once their employment is over, from competing with that employer (typically by working for a competing employer or starting a competing business). Noncompete provisions are often limited to a specific duration and/or a particular distance from the original employer. These […]

Impact of Federal Hospital Policies Sharp Rise In Urban Hospitals With Rural Status In Medicare (Health Affairs) Yang Wang, Jared Perkins, Christopher Whaley, Ge Bai This article aims to quantify the impacts of Geisinger Community Medical Center v. Secretary, United States Department of Health and Human Services, and Lawrence Memorial Hospital v. Burwell, which began allowing hospitals to qualify for both urban wage indexes for calculating Medicare reimbursements and Medicaid rural health policies designed to support rural healthcare.  The authors assess changes by tracking the proportions of administratively and geographically rural and […]

On June 12th, 2025, Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed S0126 into law, in which the state aims to improve quality of care and healthcare access by stabilizing healthcare costs through Medicare-based price regulation, creating global hospital budgets, and establishing a more stable and high-quality state healthcare network.  The new law intends to do so through controlling costs for commercial insurance, managing hospital costs by using price caps, and overseeing and assessing administrative processes.  The law tasks the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) with accomplishing these objectives. Vermont’s current system for […]