About Bruce Allain, Managing Editor
Bruce Allain, J.D. is the Managing Editor for The Source on Healthcare Price & Competition. Bruce brings two decades of experience in healthcare policy to The Source, having spent years working in government relations and public policy roles for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiologists, and AmeriHealth Caritas.The Source Team Examines Changes to the Final 2023 Merger Guidelines
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor February 26, 2024
For Health Affairs Forefront, the Source’s Katherine Gudiksen and Jaime King have analyzed changes from the draft version to the final 2023 Merger Guidelines released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ). In a previous Health Affairs Forefront piece, Source staff examined the draft guidelines. This new post examines key elements of the new guidelines, concluding that while the final version better aligns the Guidelines with the underlying antitrust laws and caselaw, the Guidelines create more grey area for companies to demonstrate that mergers do not …
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FTC Files Suit to Block Sale of North Carolina Hospitals to Novant
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor February 22, 2024
On January 25th, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had authorized a suit to block Novant Health’s proposed acquisition of two hospitals owned by Community Health Systems (CHS) in North Carolina. Nearly a year ago, in February of 2023, Novant Health and Community Health Systems (CHS) signed an Asset Purchase Agreement for Novant to pay $320 million to acquire two North Carolina hospitals from CHS. Novant is currently one of the largest hospital systems in the southeastern United States, and already owns a local hospital that serves …
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Class Action Antitrust Suit Claims University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Used Monopsony Market Power to Suppress Healthcare Workforce Conditions
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor February 15, 2024
On January 18, 2024, Victoria Ross, a former University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) nurse, filed an antitrust class action suit in the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against UPMC. The suit claims UPMC used its “monopsony power to prevent workers from exiting or improving their working conditions, to suppress workers’ wages and benefits, and to drastically increase their workloads, through a draconian system of mobility restrictions and widespread labor law violations that lock employees into sub-competitive pay and working conditions.” Parties to the Suit According …
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The Source’s Katherine L. Gudiksen co-authors report on health care market oversight
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor January 29, 2024
The Milbank Memorial Fund has published a report titled “Models for Enhanced Health Care Market Oversight — State Attorneys General, Health Departments, and Independent Oversight Entities” authored by Erin C. Fuse Brown and The Source’s own Katherine L. Gudiksen. The report looks at tools state policymakers are using to address harmful health care market consolidation, focusing on how states have expanded the review authority of the Attorney General (or other state agencies), and have given authority to review transactions to additional oversight entities. The authors reviewed applicable state statutes and …
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North Carolina Attorney General Files Suit Against HCA Subsequent to 2018 Hospital Purchase
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor January 16, 2024
On December 14, 2023, the North Carolina Attorney General (AG) filed suit against HCA Healthcare, Inc. alleging that HCA violated the Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) it signed when it acquired Mission Health System. HCA is the largest for-profit hospital chain in the United States and in 2018, it acquired Mission Health System, which serves western North Carolina. At the time of the merger, the North Carolina AG required the signing of an APA that included assurances that HCA was committed to continuing certain critical services (including emergency, trauma care, and …
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United Health Subsidiary Optum Sued for Anticompetitive Practices in Federal Lawsuit
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor December 15, 2023
Research indicates that concentrating control of healthcare providers and facilities into a handful of massive health systems leads to higher healthcare costs, without improving quality of care. There are often limited possibilities available for smaller marketplace participants who are attempting to compete with the giants in the field, especially when the giants engage in unfair business practices. On November 20, 2023, Emanate Health filed an antitrust with the US District Court for the Central District of California. The complaint alleges that Optum engaged in unfair and unlawful business practices and …
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Source Team Analyzes Importance of New Merger Guidelines for Health Affairs Forefront
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor December 13, 2023
In a new piece published in Health Affairs Forefront titled “How Will the New Draft Merger Guidelines Impact Health Care Markets?”, The Source’s Amy Gu, Katherine Gudiksen, and Jaime King examine new draft Merger Guidelines released by the Federal Trade Commissions and Department of Justice building on a previous executive order intended to strengthen competition and enhance antitrust enforcement. The authors analyze the new guidelines, as well as the harms caused by health care consolidation. The piece concludes that the draft merger guidelines break new ground by addressing the increasingly …
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The Source Roundup: December 2023 Edition
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor December 1, 2023
Healthcare Prices and Cost In An Era Of Premium And Provider Price Increases, State Employee Health Plans Target Key Cost Drivers (Health Affairs Forefront) Sabrina Corlette, Karen Davenport Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have outpaced inflation and are poised for significant rate hikes this year. State Employee Health Plans have been in a prime position to address health care costs. Administrators of these plans identified reference pricing, tiered network plans, and multi-payer purchasing initiatives as having promising results in addressing cost drivers. The Joint Distribution Of High Out-Of-Pocket Burdens, Medical Debt, …
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