Antitrust Enforcement
Recapping the 2017-2018 California Legislative Session (Part 2): Incremental Steps Made in Scrutinizing Market Changes and High Health Care Costs
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher January 29, 2019
As California begins its 2019-2020 legislative cycle, we look back at the 2017-2018 bills that will affect California health care costs and markets. Previously, we mentioned that last session’s health care bills coalesced around four themes: targeting high costs of prescription drugs, attempting to implement single payer, regulating competition, and limiting high health costs. In Part 1 of our review, we covered how the legislature banned pharmacy gag clauses and limited out of pocket expenses but failed to implement single payer. This time, we’ll look at 2017-2018 bills that sought …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Litigation and Enforcement Highlights – January 2019
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor January 15, 2019
Happy 2019! In this New Years issue, we recap the final litigation and enforcement moments of 2018. In antitrust litigation, we look closer at a major developing lawsuit that brings anticompetitive generic drug pricing practices into the national spotlight. Also, two federal appeals courts weighed in on antitrust litigation in the commercial health insurance and pharmaceutical industries, respectively. In enforcement action, we discuss the final mega merger of 2018 and what its approval means for the healthcare market. Massive Antitrust Lawsuit Keeps Snowballing Toward Judgment Day for Generic Drugmakers …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Litigation and Enforcement Highlights – December 2018
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor December 17, 2018
November brought both good and bad news to the realm of healthcare competition. In one of the biggest developments of the year in antitrust enforcement, the Justice Department successfully settled with Atrium Health to prohibit its anti-steering practice in North Carolina. Later in the month, despite anticompetitive concerns and the potential resulting impact on healthcare prices, key states approved three mega mergers, albeit with conditions. Major North Carolina Hospital System Settles Anti-Steering Suit with DOJ, Encourages Antitrust Enforcement Efforts In an ongoing anti-steering case in North Carolina,[1] the state’s …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Source Short: CVS Aetna Merger Not a Done Deal
Katie Gudiksen, Senior Health Policy Researcher December 13, 2018
In November 2018, The Source reported that CVS was finalizing its merger with Aetna after getting approval from the Justice Department. In the past two weeks, however, statements by Judge Richard Leon, a judge from the US District Court for the District of Columbia, have made that merger less certain. The approval from the Justice Department is conditional until approved by the courts. As a result, Judge Leon could rule to prevent the merger, but because the transaction already closed,[1] some legal experts have called untangling the companies akin to …
Continue Reading Download PDF
California Attorney General Conditionally Approves Merger of Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher December 4, 2018
On November 21, 2018, the California Attorney General conditionally approved the Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) merger. The new merger would result in a new $28.4 billion organization called CommonSpirit Health.[1] CommonSpirit will operate 139 hospitals and 700 care sites nationwide, including 30 hospitals in California.[2] According to the California Attorney General’s press release, CommonSpirit Health must maintain emergency services and women’s healthcare services for ten years, and the AG has the right to review the impact of any changes to these services. CommonSpirit Health must also create …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Litigation and Enforcement Highlights – October 2018
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 15, 2018
It’s been an eventful month for healthcare litigation and enforcement action. Following coverage in last month’s Litigation and Enforcement Highlights, we revisit and follow up with significant new developments in SB 17 litigation and the CVS-Aetna and Cigna-Express Scripts mergers. Additionally, we take a peek at another major healthcare merger on the horizon. PhRMA Refiles Lawsuit Challenging California’s SB 17 Last month on The Source blog, we reviewed the California federal court’s dismissal of PhRMA’s legal challenge against SB 17 on procedural grounds and noted that plaintiff will likely …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Litigation and Enforcement Highlights – September 2018
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor September 17, 2018
In this month’s Litigation and Enforcement Highlights, we recap two small but meaningful wins in courts for state legislation aimed at controlling rising drug prices. We also take a peek at the newest developments of two potential mega mergers and the legal challenge against the Affordable Care Act, both of which could change the landscape of the healthcare industry. Judge Boots Challenge Against California’s Transparency Law on Technicality In the latest development of the legal challenge against California’s recently passed SB 17, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Bills in the Other House: How 2018 California Healthcare Bills Have Evolved
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher August 22, 2018
The last two editions of The Source’s California Legislative Beat introduced some possibly transformative healthcare bills. However, many of those bills had passed only one house of the legislature at the time of writing. For a bill to become law, it must first be approved by both houses. Since passing the Assembly, some of those bills have gone through additional committees and are steadily progressing to a vote by the Senate. When a bill proceeds to the other house, it can (and have been known to) radically change. A bill …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Litigation and Enforcement Highlights – August 2018
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor August 15, 2018
This month we highlight new developments in several high profile antitrust enforcement cases and pharmaceutical legal actions, including 1) new challenges to the proposed Beth Israel-Lahey merger, 2) expanded probe into generic drugs price-fixing scheme, 3) conclusion to Allergan’s patent saga, and 4) the future of Maryland’s price gouging law. Massachusetts Health System Merger Hits Roadblock, with Rocky Road Ahead We have our eye on the proposed merger of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health, which has been under regulatory review since December 2017. As we covered …
Continue Reading Download PDF
Litigation and Enforcement Highlights – July 2018
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor July 16, 2018
June has been a busy month in terms of healthcare litigation and enforcement action. In this issue, we highlight 1) implications of the AT&T-Time Warner merger for vertical mergers in healthcare, 2) FTC’s big win in a pharmaceutical pay-for-delay case, and 3) constitutional challenges against state drug pricing laws. AT&T-Time Warner Merger Encourages Healthcare Vertical Mergers but May Mean Little Last month, a federal court approved AT&T and Time Warner’s $85 billion merger without condition, setting off a wave of speculation on how the decision could impact pending healthcare …
Continue Reading Download PDF