Gov. Newsom’s Veto of AB 1014 Prevents Greater Regulation over Emergency Department Closures Amidst Loss of Health Access
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher February 1, 2020
In California and elsewhere, the closure of emergency departments (“ED”) reduces access and negatively affects patient health, particularly to the primary users of EDs, who are often low-income and most affected by the closure. In 2014, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) observed that California had the lowest number of EDs per capita[1] and gave California an “F”, ranking the state 42nd in the country in terms of access to emergency care.[2] However, California’s latest attempt to strengthen state oversight over ED closures faltered when Governor Newsom vetoed AB …
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[Sutter Case Watch] A Huge Deal: Settlement Terms of Sutter Health Antitrust Case Will Promote Transparency and Competition in California Provider Markets
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor January 15, 2020
See UFCW & Employers Benefit Trust v. Sutter Health case page. The high-profile antitrust case against Sutter Health settled on the eve of trial in October 2019, when the Northern California hospital giant reached a preliminary settlement agreement with the California Attorney General’s office and class action plaintiffs after five years of litigation. The terms of the settlement were released late December, which include both monetary compensation for the private plaintiffs and injunctions against Sutter’s conduct that will restore competition and promote transparency in the provider market. In this …
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DOJ and FTC Release Draft Updated Guidelines for Vertical Mergers
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor January 14, 2020
On January 10, the Department of Justice (DOJ), along with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), released a new draft guideline for vertical merger review. As opposed to horizontal mergers, vertical mergers generally combine entities that operate at different levels in the same supply chain. As vertical mergers become more commonplace in the healthcare industry, they are increasingly raising antitrust concerns as they often times don’t trigger the same level of scrutiny as do horizontal mergers. The much needed new guidelines specifically targeting vertical mergers serve to withdraw and update the …
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[In the Press] Interview Quoted in California Healthline Article “Loopholes Limit New California Law To Guard Against Lofty Air Ambulance Bills”
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher January 13, 2020
Health Policy Researcher Sammy Chang was quoted in the 1/13/2020 California Healthline article “Loopholes Limit New California Law To Guard Against Lofty Air Ambulance Bills”: “It’s a very big step in balance billing, but it’s not a definitive one,” said Samuel Chang, a health policy researcher at the Source on Healthcare Price and Competition, a project of the University of California-Hastings.
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[Publication] Addressing Health Care Market Consolidation and High Prices: The Role of the States
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor January 13, 2020
Urban Institute Research Report (January 2020) “Addressing Health Care Market Consolidation and High Prices The Role of the States” Authors: Robert A. Berenson, Jaime S. King, Katherine L. Gudiksen, Roslyn Murray, Adele Shartzer
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California’s 2020-2021 Budget Proposal Aims at Consolidation and Drug Pricing
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher January 13, 2020
On January 10, California Governor Gavin Newsom released his 2020-2021 State Budget proposal. While the state budget process will not begin in earnest until after the Governor’s May Revise, the state budget provides a glimpse of likely California health care reforms. The Governor’s January Budget Proposal proposes the following: Proposal Goals Office of Health Care Affordability Increase price and quality transparency Develop cost targets for health care industry Address hospital cost trends by region, with focus on cost increases driven by delivery system consolidation Establish standards for advance evidence-based and …
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The Source Roundup: January 2020 Edition
Source Fellow January 6, 2020
By: Swaja Khanna, Student Fellow Happy New Year! We hope you had an exciting start to the new decade! In this edition of the Source Roundup, we cover articles and reports from December that discuss: (1) increase in US health care spending in 2018, (2) health system affiliation and how it affects patient access, (3) out-of-network provider charges between 2012 and 2017, and (4) how billing in-network could save millions. U.S. Health Care Spending Increased 4.6 Percent to Reach $3.6 Trillion in 2018 In the Health Affairs article National …
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[Sutter Case Watch] BREAKING: Settlement Terms Released for Landmark Antitrust Case against Sutter Health
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher December 20, 2019
See UFCW & Employers Benefit Trust v. Sutter Health case page. Today, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the settlement terms for the landmark antitrust case, UFCW & Employers Benefit Trust v. Sutter Health. Sutter Health was alleged to engage in anticompetitive behavior by requiring “all or nothing” contracts, preventing insurance companies from providing tiered health plans, setting extremely high out-of-network rates, and restricting price transparency of provider cost information and rates. As Source Executive Editor Jaime King explains in a Tradeoffs episode, The Train Has Left the Station, …
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Federal and State Price Transparency Efforts Face Legal Challenges from Industry Groups
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor December 16, 2019
Price transparency in healthcare is a hot topic that has captured the attention of many policymakers. While both federal and state governments have made efforts to promote price transparency in recent years, the path to achieving it is expected to be a bumpy one, as powerful industry groups that resist such change, including hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, are quick to seek legal challenges to block such efforts. In this edition of Litigation and Enforcement Highlights, we examine the latest lawsuits that challenge legislation to promote price transparency in healthcare and …
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House Passes the Elijah Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R. 3)
Katie Gudiksen, Senior Health Policy Researcher December 13, 2019
On Thursday, December 12, 2019, the House passed H.R. 3, the Elijah Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, with unanimous support of House Democrats, but only 2 Republican votes. While the primary provisions of the bill and the conclusions drawn in our original blog post remain unchanged, we highlight two changes made to the bill as described in our post before it was passed. First, the original bill required drug manufacturers that increase the price of a drug faster than the rate of inflation (benchmarked to prices in 2016) to …
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