The Source Roundup: April 2020 Edition
Ada Shao, Student Fellow April 1, 2020
We hope that you and loved ones are staying well as we together persevere through the unprecedented circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The current situation has brought to the forefront a number of issues our healthcare system currently faces, including the potential costs associated with treating those affected by COVID-19. In this month’s Source Roundup, we begin by looking at the expected treatment costs for patients affected by COVID-19 and examine how price capping may be a means to reduce healthcare costs. We also highlight articles that discuss …
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[Publication] JAMA Health Forum Article Highlights The SLIHCQ Database
Jaime S. King, Executive Editor March 9, 2020
Hot off the press: JAMA Health Forum article Promoting Health Care Transparency via State Legislative Efforts highlights state health transparency legislation from The State Laws Impacting Healthcare Cost (SLIHCQ) Database, a public database established by The Source on Healthcare Price and Competition and Catalyst for Payment Reform (CPR). The article looks at specific examples of state transparency legislation catalogued in the database including: All-payer claims database (APCD) – New Hampshire, Colorado Right-to-shop – Maine, Utah Surprise or balance billing – New York Find out details of these state legislation and …
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Introducing the Source New Interactive Key Issue Page: Provider Contracts
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor March 2, 2020
We did it again! The Source on Healthcare Price & Competition is proud to announce that, in partnership with UC Berkeley’s Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare, we have launched another brand new interactive key issue page, “Provider Contracts”, which looks at the most effective strategies for states to understand and address the ability of providers with dominant market power to utilize contracting strategies to negotiate high rates. With support from Arnold Ventures, this new installment is part of a collaborative research series that leverages the latest and most comprehensive data on state laws, healthcare markets, and healthcare prices in provider …
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The Source Roundup: March 2020 Edition
Source Fellow March 1, 2020
By: Swaja Khanna, Student Fellow In this edition of the Source Roundup, we highlight articles and reports from February that discuss: (1) the prevalence of out-of-network billing during elective procedures with in-network services, (2) affordable care organizations’ potential to limit out-of-network spending, (3) findings from the new Health Care Cost and Utilization Report, (4) private health care spending growth varies by hospital referral regions, (5) U.S. has highest healthcare spending despite worst health outcome, and (6) how states policies encourage provider market competition and lower healthcare spending. The Prevalence …
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[Presentation] California State Assembly on Health Hearing on Cost Containment
Jaime S. King, Executive Editor February 25, 2020
California State Assembly on Health: Hearing on Cost Containment: Key Policy Considerations for California Presentation: “Trends and Approaches to Health Care Industry Consolidation”
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[Press Release] States Increasingly Turn to Legislation to Promote Competition and Control Health Care Prices, Per New Analysis from CPR and UC Hastings
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor February 25, 2020
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – February 25, 2020 – High commercial health care prices are a main driver of US health care spending, due in large part to consolidation among providers. While employers, other health care purchasers and payers can drive competition in the marketplace through benefit and provider network design, public policies can also strengthen and support those efforts. Catalyst for Payment Reform and The Source on Healthcare Price and Competition at UC Hastings College of the Law have catalogued state measures to enhance market competitiveness and control costs through legislation. The report, State Policies …
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Source Executive Editor and Advisory Board Members Release Comments on DOJ Draft Vertical Merger Guidelines
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor February 24, 2020
Early in January, the Department of Justice (DOJ), along with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), released a new draft guideline for vertical merger review and sought public comments. On February 24, The Source Executor Editor Jaime King, along with health economists and policy experts including Source Advisory members Tim Greaney and Richard Scheffler, jointly released “Comments on the Draft Vertical Merger Guidelines with Special Consideration to Health Care”. The comments raise concerns and urge that special attention be paid to the effects of vertical mergers in the health care sector, …
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Litigation and Enforcement Highlights – February 2020
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor February 18, 2020
The Source has been closely following legal challenges to state legislation that seek to promote competition and contain costs in healthcare services. In this month’s Litigation and Enforcement Highlights, we roundup the latest developments in some of the pending cases as well as new lawsuits that have been filed to derail state efforts to address rising prescription drug costs. Arkansas: Supreme Court Grants Review of PBM Law In November 2019, the Source Blog covered the long litigious history of lawsuits filed against various pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) laws from …
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Obamacare: Here We Go Again…..
Jaime S. King, Executive Editor February 14, 2020
For those of you who have followed the storied trajectory of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), affectionately called Obamacare, strap yourselves in because here we go again. After months of waiting for an opinion, on December 18, 2020, which incidentally was the day of Donald Trump’s impeachment, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Texas v. U.S., the most recent challenge to the constitutionality of the ACA. The three-judge panel ruled two to one that the individual mandate was unconstitutional in the absence of a tax penalty, …
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[Presentation] National Academy of Medicine’s Leadership Consortium: Collaboration for a Value & Science-Driven Learning Health System
Jaime S. King, Executive Editor February 13, 2020
The National Academy of Medicine’s Leadership Consortium: Collaboration for a Value & Science-Driven Learning Health System Value Incentives & Systems Action Collaborative Presentation: “Affordability in Health Care: The Roles of Consolidation and Price Transparency”
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