The Source on Healthcare Price & Competition is thrilled to announce the launch of the newest interactive key issue pages in Provider Rate Regulation. Along with a report published in Frontiers in Health Services, this series of key issue pages aim to provide state policymakers with a roadmap of effective strategies to address rapidly increasing prices. In many markets, where existing competition are insufficient to constrain the pricing power of dominant insurers and providers, policymakers need to consider options to directly limit the unrelenting increase of healthcare prices that threatens the affordability of health care for Americans. With support …

Summer may be going by like a breeze, but you can still catch up on some of the latest studies and reports in healthcare market and prices in the Source Roundup as usual. In this issue, we first take a look at the latest trends in hospital and health system consolidation. More than a year since the implementation of the federal hospital transparency rule, researchers continue to study and examine the hospital price data that were disclosed, including characteristics of hospitals that have complied with the rule, trends in prices …

Happy Summer! We kick off the holiday weekend with the latest research and articles in healthcare price and competition. This month’s Roundup highlights articles and reports that discuss 1) the impact and trends of private equity investment in health care; 2) compliance trends of the federal Hospital Price Transparency Rule; and 3) the role of high prices in excess healthcare spending in the U.S. and possible strategies for cost containment, including methods to limit costs and spending, such as 4) health savings accounts, 5) out-of-pocket spending limit for Medicare, and …

This month, we are pleased to highlight new publications co-authored by The Source-affiliated health policy researchers and scholars, discussing 1) the potential benefits of all-payer hospital global budgets, and 2) the legal viability and policy effects of state public option health plans. Additionally, we examine articles covering research on 3) hospital service offerings based on ownership type, 4) the correlation between hospital prices and patient outcomes, 5) data sources within California’s physician practice landscape, and 6) the labor market impact of hospital mergers.   Healthcare Reform and Cost Containment High …

This month’s Roundup focuses on articles highlighting market consolidation and healthcare affordability, which can both have important implications for patient outcomes. First, we examine articles and reports that study 1) the need for a robust administrative review process for all healthcare transactions, 2) post-merger outcomes for hospital system and patients, and 3) consolidation in the dialysis industry. Next, we highlight articles and reports focusing on growing healthcare costs and affordability that specifically examine 4) the impact of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, 5) changes in employer healthcare benefits …

As hospital consolidation continue to rise amidst the pandemic, there has been contentious debate over the impacts of provider consolidation. This month’s roundup begins with articles that discuss some of these issues, including studies that found both benefits and potential harms of certain hospital mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships. Also highlighted in this month’s roundup are studies on the implications of proposed payment reforms across specialties, increasing health care costs for individuals with employer-sponsored insurance, and the continuing lack of plan comparison among Medicare beneficiaries during open enrollment season.   Market …

In February of this legislative session, California Assemblymember Jim Wood introduced AB 1130, titled the California Health Care Quality and Affordability Act. Wood was prompted to draft AB 1130 when a 2020 California Health Care Foundation poll found that 84% of Californians surveyed cited health care affordability as an extremely or very important issue to them.[1] The bill would establish the Office of Healthcare Affordability (the “office”) within the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) and be tasked with analyzing health care markets for cost trends and drivers …

Happy April! This month’s roundup centers on articles and reports that discuss: 1) healthcare markets and competition; 2) payment reform, and 3) healthcare costs, and 4) price transparency.   Healthcare Markets and Competition In a piece published in the Harvard Business Review titled The Pandemic Will Fuel Consolidation in U.S. Health Care, Lovisa Gustafsson and David Blumenthal, researchers at the Commonwealth Fund, predict that mergers of key players in the U.S. healthcare system will continue as a result of provider financial challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the Federal Trade …

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 …

A new article published in the Milbank Quarterly Opinion proposes the new Biden administration should help states develop capitated public options as part of its health policy agenda, which could lay the groundwork for a federal public option. Authored by Source Advisory Board Member Richard Scheffler and Thomas Rice, the article examines the recent efforts of Washington and Colorado in developing quasi-public options in their states. The authors identify specific states, including California, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, as being most ready for such a risk-based capitation program. Finally, they call …