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Recent lawsuits focus on key competition issues
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor April 16, 2024
This spring, court cases are dealing with a variety of issues relevant to healthcare marketplace competition issues. These include a Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) action to block a sale of hospitals in North Carolina, examining the fiduciary duties employer-sponsored health plans have in selecting drug plans, and looking at the acceptability of non-compete clauses in physician contracts. FTC Files suit in North Carolina In February, the FTC authorization of a suit to block Novant Health’s proposed acquisition of two hospitals owned by Community Health Systems (CHS) in North Carolina. On …
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The Source Roundup: April 2024 Edition
Dilani Logan, Student Fellow April 1, 2024
Healthcare System Mergers and Investments Private Equity-Acquired Physician Practices and Market Penetration Increased Substantially, 2012-21 (Health Affairs) Ola Abdelhadi, Brent D. Fulton, Laura Alexander, and Richard M. Scheffler The awareness for private equity’s influence on the healthcare sector continues to grow and be quantified. Generally, there has been concern among parties in the health care system regarding the rate at which private equity firms have been acquiring physician practices, creating antitrust, quality, and pricing concerns within the broader health system. A new Health Affairs study estimated the local market share …
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California Lawmakers Seek to Increase Oversight of Healthcare Transactions Involving Private Equity and Hedge Funds with AB-3129
Dilani Logan, Student Fellow March 22, 2024
The California Legislature wrapped up its annual introduction period for new bills on February 16. Among the wide swath of proposed health care bills, one, in particular, has caught the attention of many legal experts and players in the health care field. AB-3129 was introduced by Assemblymember Jim Wood and Attorney General (AG) Rob Bonta on the last day of the introduction period. It proposes sweeping regulations around how private equity firms and hedge funds can participate in owning and managing healthcare facilities. The introduction of the bill comes amidst …
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Patients File Class Action Suit Claiming Healthcare Merger Resulted in Unfair High Prices
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor March 15, 2024
The preponderance of research evidence demonstrates that a lack of meaningful healthcare market competition is bad for consumers – resulting in higher prices, and insurance premiums, without a commensurate increase in quality of care. New merger guidelines issued in 2023 by the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice are just one indication that the Federal government is more closely examining proposed health system mergers. Increased regulatory scrutiny, among other factors, appears to be causing a slow-down in healthcare merger activity. In addition to merger challenges by state and federal …
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The Source Roundup: March 2024 Edition
Dilani Logan, Student Fellow March 1, 2024
Health Policy Trends The 2024 CHCF California Health Policy Survey (California Health Care Foundation) Jen Joynt, Rebecca Catterson, Emily Alverez, Larry Bye, Vicki Pineau, and Lin Liu The California Health Care Foundation released results from its fifth annual California Health Policy survey. Researchers from the California Health Care Foundation and NORC at the University of Chicago surveyed a representative sample to assess Californian’s views and experiences on a myriad of health care topics. This year’s survey yielded a number of key findings. Among them, researchers found that there is a …
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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 Roundup: February 2024 Edition
Dilani Logan, Student Fellow February 1, 2024
Healthcare System Mergers and Investment Models for Enhanced Health Care Market Oversight – State Attorneys General, Health Departments, and Independent Oversight Entities (Milbank Memorial Fund) Erin C. Fuse Brown, Katherine L. Gudiksen The Source’s own Katherine L. Gudiksen co-authored this report for the Milbank Memorial Fund with Eric C. Fuse Brown, which assesses the tools state policy makers are using to address harmful health care market consolidation. Specifically, the report focuses on how states have broadened review authority by expanding the existing authority of the Attorney General (or other state …
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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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