Source Shorts
U.S. Supreme Court Overturns the Chevron Deference: What it Could Mean for Federal Healthcare Agencies
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor June 28, 2024
On a 6-3 decision following party lines, the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a long-standing legal precedent that required courts to generally defer to regulations issued by Federal agencies that interpret and enact Congressional statutes, commonly referred to as Chevron deference. Chevron deference required courts to defer to an agency’s “reasonable interpretations” of ambiguous statutes passed by Congress. The end of the precedent opens the doors to legal challenges of existing Federal administrative law, and will likely weaken the ability of Federal agencies to issue administrative regulations …
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Verdict in Sidibe v. Sutter Health Overturned by 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor June 5, 2024
On Tuesday, June 4, 2024, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Sutter Health’s win in a $411 million antitrust suit, saying that the jury that found in favor of Sutter in 2022 was given improper jury instructions, and that the plaintiffs were improperly prevented from presenting relevant evidence. In September 2012, a class of individuals and employers who purchased fully insured plans from the five largest commercial health insurance companies in California filed this lawsuit alleging that Sutter Health restricted competition in the healthcare market using anticompetitive tactics. A similar lawsuit, …
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The Source Team Co-Authors Research Article Examining Impacts of Cross-Market Hospital Mergers
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor April 23, 2024
A new research article examining the impact of “cross-market” hospital mergers on prices and quality published in Health Services Research has been co-authored by The Source’s own Jaime King, Katherine Gudiksen, Alexandra Montague, and Thomas Greaney, along with our long-time collaborators, Daniel Arnold, Brent Fulton, and Richard Scheffler, from The Petris Center at UC Berkeley. The study is the first to measure the impact of cross-market hospital acquisitions on quality and the first to identify price effects from multiple cross-market acquisitions (i.e. serial acquisitions). The study used commercial claims data …
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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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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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United Health Subsidiary Optum Sued for Anticompetitive Practices in Federal Lawsuit
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor December 15, 2023
Research indicates that concentrating control of healthcare providers and facilities into a handful of massive health systems leads to higher healthcare costs, without improving quality of care. There are often limited possibilities available for smaller marketplace participants who are attempting to compete with the giants in the field, especially when the giants engage in unfair business practices. On November 20, 2023, Emanate Health filed an antitrust with the US District Court for the Central District of California. The complaint alleges that Optum engaged in unfair and unlawful business practices and …
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Source Team Analyzes Importance of New Merger Guidelines for Health Affairs Forefront
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor December 13, 2023
In a new piece published in Health Affairs Forefront titled “How Will the New Draft Merger Guidelines Impact Health Care Markets?”, The Source’s Amy Gu, Katherine Gudiksen, and Jaime King examine new draft Merger Guidelines released by the Federal Trade Commissions and Department of Justice building on a previous executive order intended to strengthen competition and enhance antitrust enforcement. The authors analyze the new guidelines, as well as the harms caused by health care consolidation. The piece concludes that the draft merger guidelines break new ground by addressing the increasingly …
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FTC and California AG Jointly Challenge John Muir’s Acquisition of San Ramon Regional Medical from Tenet Healthcare
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor December 7, 2023
See case page: FTC and California v. John Muir Health and Tenet Healthcare Update: On December 15, 2023, John Muir announced it would terminate its proposed deal to acquire Tenet’s remaining interest in San Ramon Medical Center. On December 18th, the FTC and California moved to dismiss their federal court case and the FTC dismissed its administrative challenge. Federal antitrust enforcement continues to pick up pace even as we near the year end. On November 17, the Federal Trade Commission sued to block John Muir Health’s proposed $142.5 million …
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Just Published: Research Report on State-imposed Conditions on Healthcare Provider Transactions
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor August 16, 2023
In a new research paper published in Frontiers in Public Health Volume 11, The Source’s Alex Montague, Robin Davison, Katie Gudiksen, and Jaime King examine the use of conditional approvals by state officials on hospital and health system mergers, acquisitions, and other consolidating transactions. While federal antitrust enforcers play an important role in overseeing large mergers, acquisitions, and other consolidating transactions of major healthcare providers, state oversight over healthcare markets is essential to slow consolidation more broadly and address market failures across the country. One method states have used to address …
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