
About Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher
Samuel “Sammy” Chang is a Health Policy Researcher for The Source on Healthcare Price and Competition. He currently writes the monthly California Legislative Beat on the Source Blog. Prior to joining The Source, he served as the Student Caucus Chair for the Executive Oversight Board for the University of California, Student Health Insurance Plan and worked as a legal intern for the California Department of Managed Health Care’s Office of Legal Services. At UC Hastings, he received a CALI Award for Academic Excellence for his work on the Public Policy and Law Workgroup. He additionally contributed to the California Senate Committee on Business, Professions, and Economic Development background paper on pharmacy benefit managers. Sammy has been recognized by the American Bar Association and the UC Hastings Board of Directors for his vision and dedicated leadership and has testified in front of the California Assembly Judiciary Committee and the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Education. Sammy is a recent graduate of UC Hastings College of the Law with a concentration in law and health sciences and holds a B.S. degree in Biochemistry/Cell Biology from UC San Diego.California Budget Watch (Part 3 of 4): California’s Newly Enacted Budget Contains Impactful Healthcare Initiatives That Will Help Increase Healthcare Access
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher July 31, 2019
On June 27, 2019, Governor Newsom signed AB 74, the Legislature’s final budget with no line item changes related to health care. Previously, we glimpsed at the Governor’s May Revise and the Legislature’s final proposal. While not much has changed, we recap and delve deeper this month into specific programs under the enacted budget that could impact healthcare access and costs. Final Allocations for New Healthcare Programs While many different healthcare initiatives are included in the enacted budget, we focus our discussion specifically on programs laid out in the […]
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California Budget Watch 2019 (Part 2 of 4): Compromise! Five Quick Insights into AB 74 – The Legislature’s Budget Act of 2019
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher June 24, 2019
On June 13, using the Governor’s May Revise as a starting point, the Assembly and Senate adopted AB 74, the Budget Act of 2019, and sent it to the Governor. This bill provides in detail the Legislature’s compromise of the proposals from the Assembly, Senate, and the Governor. While this bill only provides the appropriation and not the full language of implementation, the proposed budget provides a great preview for what health reforms are in store for California. To better digest specifics of this budget compromise, we’ll break this down […]
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California Budget Watch 2019 (Part 1 of 4): Governor Newsom’s May Revise Ups the Ante to Increase Healthcare Coverage and Affordability
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher May 31, 2019
It’s budget season, and this month kick-starts the discussion on whether California should re-implement the individual mandate, how much Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies should be increased, and whether Medi-Cal should be expanded to undocumented young adults and seniors. Back in January, Governor Newsom went quickly to work upon his inauguration, signing executive orders and sending a letter to Congress and President Trump. With his May Revise, we will examine, in three parts, the specifics of the Governor’s proposals, how the proposals have evolved, and the studies that evaluate those […]
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Better Data for Better Results: AB 1122’s Super User Pilot Project and Other 2019 Bills That Improve Health Care Transparency
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher April 30, 2019
As California continues its implementation of an all-payer claims database, we take a look at other bills the Legislature introduced to further the aim of better understanding the factors and activities that drive health care costs and quality. SB 343 subjects the Kaiser Permanente system to the same reporting requirements as other plans and hospitals. SB 612 and AB 929 mandate public disclosure of cost reduction and quality improvement activities. Additionally, AB 1122 proposes a pilot project that utilizes existing data sets to identify a new data set: high health […]
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AB 744 and Other 2019 Bills Seek to Increase and Improve Telehealth Delivery in California
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher March 31, 2019
Avoid driving, get help instantly. That’s the premise of telehealth. Telehealth, under California law, is defined as “the mode of delivering health care services and public health via information and communication technologies to facilitate the diagnosis, consultation, treatment, education, care management, and self-management of a patient’s health care.”[1] One study has shown that the use of telehealth, in California, has been found to save a patient 278 miles in driving, 4 hours in time, and $156 in direct travel costs per consultation.[2] As such, telehealth has been used as an […]
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2019’s AB 1611 is California’s Latest Attempt in Its Long, Litigious History to Eliminate Balance Billing
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher February 28, 2019
This has happened before. In 2014, San Francisco General Hospital Medical Group acknowledged in a settlement with the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) that it had balance billed patients with Blue Shield PPO plans for emergency services between January 2009 and March 2014. The group claimed to have balance billed these patients because it did “not realize that Blue Shield of California PPO plans were subject to DMHC jurisdiction.” Because legislative and judicial authority prohibit balance billing of emergency services for enrollees that are part of a DMHC-regulated […]
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Recapping the 2017-2018 California Legislative Session (Part 2): Incremental Steps Made in Scrutinizing Market Changes and High Health Care Costs
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher January 29, 2019
As California begins its 2019-2020 legislative cycle, we look back at the 2017-2018 bills that will affect California health care costs and markets. Previously, we mentioned that last session’s health care bills coalesced around four themes: targeting high costs of prescription drugs, attempting to implement single payer, regulating competition, and limiting high health costs. In Part 1 of our review, we covered how the legislature banned pharmacy gag clauses and limited out of pocket expenses but failed to implement single payer. This time, we’ll look at 2017-2018 bills that sought […]
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Recapping the 2017-2018 California Legislative Session (Part 1): Incremental Steps Made in Targeting High Drug Costs and Achieving Single Payer
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher January 8, 2019
After considering 5,617 bills and resolutions, the two year California legislative cycle has come to a conclusion. As health care costs become more scrutinized, more bills than ever have emerged to target these costs. While not all of those bills passed, a significant amount of bills that did pass as well as the notable bills that failed coalesce around four themes: targeting high costs of prescription drugs, working towards a single payer system, regulating competition, and limiting high health costs. This post will focus on the first two themes: high […]
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California Attorney General Conditionally Approves Merger of Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher December 4, 2018
On November 21, 2018, the California Attorney General conditionally approved the Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) merger. The new merger would result in a new $28.4 billion organization called CommonSpirit Health.[1] CommonSpirit will operate 139 hospitals and 700 care sites nationwide, including 30 hospitals in California.[2] According to the California Attorney General’s press release, CommonSpirit Health must maintain emergency services and women’s healthcare services for ten years, and the AG has the right to review the impact of any changes to these services. CommonSpirit Health must also create […]
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AB 1810: California’s Rough Road to an APCD Becomes Smoother
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher November 27, 2018
California’s AB 1810, among its many provisions, authorizes the creation of an all-payer claims database (“APCD”) via a one-time $60 million appropriation to California’s Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (“OSHPD”).[1] An APCD is a database that collects medical, pharmacy, and dental claims and administrative data from public and private payers. An APCD is the best way to provide price transparency, as they allow comparison of the costs of medical procedures across different health facilities. For more information, see the Source’s issue brief on All-Payer Claims Databases and California […]
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