Cross-Market Mergers or Systems
Patients File Class Action Suit Claiming Healthcare Merger Resulted in Unfair High Prices
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor March 15, 2024
The preponderance of research evidence demonstrates that a lack of meaningful healthcare market competition is bad for consumers – resulting in higher prices, and insurance premiums, without a commensurate increase in quality of care. New merger guidelines issued in 2023 by the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice are just one indication that the Federal government is more closely examining proposed health system mergers. Increased regulatory scrutiny, among other factors, appears to be causing a slow-down in healthcare merger activity. In addition to merger challenges by state and federal …
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The Source Roundup: March 2024 Edition
Dilani Logan, Student Fellow March 1, 2024
Health Policy Trends The 2024 CHCF California Health Policy Survey (California Health Care Foundation) Jen Joynt, Rebecca Catterson, Emily Alverez, Larry Bye, Vicki Pineau, and Lin Liu The California Health Care Foundation released results from its fifth annual California Health Policy survey. Researchers from the California Health Care Foundation and NORC at the University of Chicago surveyed a representative sample to assess Californian’s views and experiences on a myriad of health care topics. This year’s survey yielded a number of key findings. Among them, researchers found that there is a …
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The Source Roundup: February 2024 Edition
Dilani Logan, Student Fellow February 1, 2024
Healthcare System Mergers and Investment Models for Enhanced Health Care Market Oversight – State Attorneys General, Health Departments, and Independent Oversight Entities (Milbank Memorial Fund) Erin C. Fuse Brown, Katherine L. Gudiksen The Source’s own Katherine L. Gudiksen co-authored this report for the Milbank Memorial Fund with Eric C. Fuse Brown, which assesses the tools state policy makers are using to address harmful health care market consolidation. Specifically, the report focuses on how states have broadened review authority by expanding the existing authority of the Attorney General (or other state …
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The Source and Petris Center Submits Comments in Support of Federal Draft Merger Guidelines
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor September 18, 2023
On September 18, The Source on Healthcare Price and Competition, together with UC Berkeley’s Petris Center, submitted public comments on the Federal Draft Merger Guidelines published on July 19. Jointly released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ), the draft guidelines proposed new considerations and guidance in the antitrust review of mergers and acquisitions, taking into account new developments and market realities in recent years. These new guidelines would replace the horizontal merger guidelines of 2010 and vertical merger guidelines of 2020 which have been withdrawn by …
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BREAKING: New Federal Draft Merger Guidelines Announced
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor July 19, 2023
On July 19, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) jointly released updated draft guidelines for their antitrust review of mergers and acquisitions. The new proposed guidelines were established following public comments solicited from the past 18 months and aim to better evaluate business and competition in the modern economy and current market realities. The draft guidelines provide 13 principles the agencies will use in determining whether a transaction is anticompetitive and take into consideration increasing concern over new forms of consolidation including vertical mergers, cross-market mergers, …
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The Source Roundup: July 2023 Edition
Mary Mitchell, Student Fellow July 3, 2023
Summer is here, and we hope you can enjoy some vacation time. Whether you’re at work or on the beach, our July roundup brings you the highlights of recent healthcare pricing and competition studies and reports. First, we share several articles that discuss the potential for anticompetitive impacts from consolidation through collaborative agreements and cross-market mergers, two types of lesser-examined transactions that more easily escape regulatory scrutiny. Next, we share an American Hospital Association fact sheet that spotlights insurer policies and acquisitions as under recognized contributors to the changing landscape …
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The Source Roundup: May 2023 Edition
Rachel Ng, Student Fellow May 1, 2023
As we prepare to transition to the summer, this month is an opportune time to examine the impacts of potentially a new season in the health care market. Researchers noted that not only is there a rise of geographically distant mergers even as rural hospitals struggle to maintain profitability, but also that private equity is a new major financier of the health care market. On the other hand, California hopes to increase competition with Golden Choice, a state-run public option. Federally, price transparency efforts could be a step towards creating …
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Healthcare Merger Watch Q1 2023: Nationwide Cross-Market Merger Mania
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor March 15, 2023
In this first healthcare merger watch of 2023, we highlight some consolidation activities from the first quarter in the healthcare industry. In a trend that has continued in recent years, healthcare entities in the latest proposed and pending deals are increasingly exploring consolidation in new and innovative ways, across different geographic regions and involving different healthcare players in the industry. Even though federal and state antitrust enforcers often successfully challenge traditional, horizontal mergers and acquisitions, transactions involving cross-market consolidation are typically not challenged due to less straightforward legal and economic …
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Healthcare Consolidation Q4 2022: Cross-Market Mergers Continue Apace
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor December 15, 2022
2022 has been an active year in healthcare consolidation as well as for merger challenges and enforcement. As we approach the year end, healthcare deals continued as many entities seek to close the transactions before the new year. Increasingly, as seen in the 4th quarter, healthcare deals are shifting to cross-market transactions, making review and enforcement efforts more challenging. In case you missed it, this final Litigation and Enforcement Highlights of the year will help you catch up on some of the cross-market deals in Q4 2022 that caught our …
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The Source Roundup: December 2022 Edition
Rachel Ng, Student Fellow December 1, 2022
As the end of the year approaches, there’s no better time to catch up and reflect upon new research and findings from the past year. The articles and reports in this month’s Roundup examine the latest trends in consolidation including (1) the rise of cross-market hospital systems and (2) concentration in the insurance markets. We also highlight articles that explored (3) the current state and future of telehealth regulation and (4) quality impact for hospitals that switch to a value based payment model. Consolidation and Competition Although 2022 has …
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