Healthcare Consolidation
The Source Roundup: July 2021 Edition
Michele Ellson, Student Fellow July 1, 2021
This month, we are proud to announce the publication of an issue brief by our Source colleagues Katherine L. Gudiksen, Alexandra D. Montague, and Jamie S. King on the topic of healthcare market consolidation—and more specifically, on what state and federal leaders are doing to deal with it. This month’s Roundup also discusses new research about a potential link between ACO participation and higher prices, hospitals’ lagging price transparency compliance efforts, surprise ambulance bills, the future of telehealth, enrollee satisfaction with public and private health plans, and state employee health …
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Healthcare Merger Challenges: Q2 2021 Update
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor June 15, 2021
In this mid-year issue of Litigation and Enforcement Highlights, we provide updates on several pending healthcare transactions. As much of the country recovers from COVID-19, healthcare entities continue to actively pursue proposed mergers and affiliations that could further change the landscape of the healthcare market. In the last update, federal enforcement agencies saw a mixed bag of results to their enforcement efforts, with an FTC loss against Jefferson-Albert Einstein, a DOJ settlement with Geisinger-Evangelical, and several proposed mergers that buckled under antitrust scrutiny (see case reference table below). Since then, …
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The Source Roundup: June 2021 Edition
Michele Ellson, Student Fellow June 1, 2021
The election of Joe Biden to the presidency could mean expanded access to healthcare coverage and increased government regulation of anticompetitive mergers and other practices. Already, Biden and Congress have increased access by temporarily expanding eligibility for health plan premium tax credits. Are other changes on the horizon? This month’s Roundup covers research on 1) the potential fiscal impacts of expanding eligibility for Medicare, 2) the views of a key stakeholder in conversations about expanding government’s role in providing care and regulating competition, 3) the potential savings that could be …
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The Source Roundup: May 2021 Edition
Erin Livinghouse, Student Fellow May 3, 2021
This month’s roundup covers academic articles and reports that examined: 1) early results and challenges of the new federal price transparency rule; 2) how to address increasing market consolidation and competition during the COVID-19 pandemic; 3) rising healthcare costs; and 4) how much patients pay and physicians receive when patients receive out-of-network emergency care. Price Transparency In response to policymakers calling for greater price transparency of healthcare services for patients and other payers of healthcare, a federal rule from the Department of Health and Human Services took effect on …
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The Source Commissioned for Policy Analysis of Rhode Island Health System Consolidation
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor April 12, 2021
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 …
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The Source Roundup: April 2021 Edition
Erin Livinghouse, Student Fellow April 1, 2021
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 …
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2021 California Healthcare Bills Part 1: Healthcare Market and System Reform Proposals Lead the Way
Mallory Warner, Health Policy Research Fellow March 15, 2021
February 19th was the deadline for California legislators to introduce their proposed bills this session. In a two-part series, we highlight some of the notable healthcare bills on the table in 2021. In this post, we focus on a few ambitious reform efforts to the healthcare market and delivery system. Next month, we’ll turn our attention to proposed bills that aim to regulate the prescription drug market and bills that promote price and quality transparency. Healthcare system reform measures are those that change the structure of health care in a …
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Healthcare Merger Challenges: Q1 2021 Update
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor March 12, 2021
In this month’s Litigation and Enforcement Highlights, we provide the latest updates on several proposed provider mergers, many of which were fueled by the continued pandemic. With the increased consolidation came increased antitrust scrutiny. So far this year, we’ve seen a mixed bag of wins and losses for federal and state enforcement agencies that seek to block the mergers. FTC Concedes in Failed Challenge of Jefferson-Albert Einstein Merger In its first major loss in a healthcare merger challenge in recent years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) officially dropped its …
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The Source Roundup: March 2021 Edition
Alex Montague, Health Policy Researcher March 1, 2021
Happy March! This month’s roundup focuses on health policy pieces and reports that examine 1) the future of value-based care, 2) the efficacy of various policy options to address healthcare prices, including increasing price transparency and market competition, 3) comparisons of brand-name drug prices, and 4) the impact of the Affordable Care Act on uninsured young adults. Valued-Based Reform In a white paper published this past month, The Future of Value-Based Payment: A Road Map to 2030, researchers from the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University …
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Federal Antitrust Scrutiny of Healthcare Industry Intensifies During Pandemic
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor February 15, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought national attention to the inner workings of the healthcare industry, exposing many of its shortcomings and issues. Many are now taking a renewed look at the U.S. healthcare system as a whole and the underlying problems that arise from the actions of its various players. Early this year, healthcare transactions that have largely escaped federal antitrust review are now being hauled into the spotlight in new attempts to promote greater competition in the healthcare market. Physician Consolidation Garners Attention as the FTC Seeks to …
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