The new film InHospitable is a timely documentary that follows patients and activists as they battle UPMC, a multi-billion dollar nonprofit hospital system that was making vital care unaffordable for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable patients in western Pennsylvania. The film highlights the urgency of holding large health systems accountable for their significant role in our broken healthcare system. Slated to have its world premiere on November 13th at DOC NYC, anyone in the U.S. can watch it online from November 14 – 28. Tickets are available here for in-person …

On October 21, the Milbank Memorial Fund and the Source on Healthcare Price and Competition hosted a webinar on steps that states are taking to foster more competitive health care markets and lower health care prices, featuring The Source Senior Health Policy Researcher Katie Gudiksen and state regulators from Connecticut and Oregon. The recording is now available to watch for free: Watch Recording Download Powerpoint Presentation (Katie Gudiksen) For more information, check out the 3-part Milbank Memorial Bank series authored by the Source team. The first brief called for collaboration of state and …

Increasingly, hospitals have merged to form dominant health systems that can exert market power and charge anticompetitive prices that increase health care prices and burden the economy. A recent series of Milbank Memorial Fund issue briefs by researchers from the Source for Healthcare Price on Competition identified specific state policies and practices that can deter health care provider concentration, including improved merger review, oversight of anticompetitive conduct, and bans on potentially anticompetitive contract terms that apply to health insurers and providers. On October 21 at 3 p.m., ET, the Milbank …

Newly available on the Source: our health policy research team compiled a user-friendly, downloadable Excel spreadsheet of all provider merger review authority for all 50 states, now on the Market Consolidation interactive key issue page. The detailed chart provides clickable citations of all statutes, regulations, and state authority for mergers, acquisitions, conversions, or changes in ownership of healthcare providers. The comprehensive spreadsheet allows side-by-side comparisons of the level of legal authority for each state to receive notice of impending transactions, review those transactions, and approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove them. …

In connection with the Source’s research and findings on anticompetitive contract terms, Senior Health Policy Researcher Katie Gudiksen co-authored the NASHP model legislation for states to rein in the use of these contract terms, including all-or-nothing, most-favored nation, anti-steering/anti-tiering, and gag clauses. A companion report, A Tool for States to Address Health Care Consolidation: Prohibiting Anticompetitive Health Plan Contracts, further details the contract terms and how the model act can give states essential tools to create a more level playing field and help rein in rising health care costs. For …

As an extension of the Source’s research and work on provider market consolidation, the Milbank Memorial Fund commissioned the Source team to conduct an in-depth policy analysis of health system consolidation in Rhode Island and provide legal and regulatory options for Rhode Island state officials to address the impacts of consolidation. Executive Director Jaime King, Senior Health Policy Researchers Robert Murray and Katie Gudiksen, and Source Advisory Board Member Bob Berenson of the Urban Institute created a detailed presentation that first provides an overview of Rhode Island’s provider markets and …

The Nicholas C. Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare, in its annual newsletter published this month, highlights many of the research collaborations with The Source in 2020 and 2021. Among the work are two studies on market consolidation and competition, one of which examines the impact of state merger review and the use of anticompetitive contract clauses on healthcare prices, quality and premiums (both research findings are published on The Source). Another ongoing project seeks to determine the size and scope of cross-market hospital and physician organization …

The Source kicked off the New Year with a trio of blog posts in the Health Affairs Blog that highlights the Database of State Laws Impacting Healthcare Cost and Quality (SLIHCQ). The SLIHCQ Database was developed in partnership with the Catalyst for Payment Reform (“CPR”) and is an interactive tool that hosts ongoing state legislative efforts to implement healthcare reform. It is intuitively designed to allow policymakers and other stakeholders to customize and filter their searches by key issue and state. In collaboration with CPR, The Source Executive Editor Jaime …

In a new 60 Minutes episode aired on 12/13/20 (S53 E15), CBS interviews California attorney general Xavier Becerra in its investigation of anticompetitive practices by Sutter Health that led to higher health care costs in California. Watch the story here.

On November 13, The Source on Healthcare Price & Competition and the UC Berkeley Petris Center jointly hosted a virtual convening of some of the leading experts in law and economics in a workshop to review and evaluate current findings of our collaborative research series “The Role of States in Promoting Competition in Healthcare: A Legal and Economic Analysis.” Our research analyzes how state merger review authority and regulation of contracts between providers and insurers affect the price of healthcare services and insurance premiums. The interactive workshop, supported by Arnold …