Competition
Third Circuit Hears Oral Arguments in High-Stakes Hackensack Meridian Appeal
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor December 15, 2021
All eyes are on Hackensack Meridian Health’s proposed acquisition of Englewood Healthcare Foundation as the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the FTC challenge last week. As healthcare entities continue to actively pursue mergers and affiliations during —and in part driven by— the coronavirus pandemic, the outcome of this New Jersey merger may have significant implications for both federal and state antitrust enforcement across the country. In this post, The Source brings you up to speed with the latest developments leading up to the high-stakes appeal and …
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What’s Ahead for 2022: Promising Healthcare Bills Pending in the California Legislature
Enne Mae Guerrero, Graduate Research Fellow December 13, 2021
The California legislature has passed nearly 800 bills in the 2021 session. As part of the two-year term, the legislature still has the opportunity to enact more meaningful healthcare legislation in the second year of the 2021-2022 legislative term. In the last issue of the California Legislative Beat, we recapped the 2021 legislative session and detailed the enacted and vetoed bills that enhance healthcare delivery, ensure healthcare access and coverage, promote price transparency, and reinforce competition and enforcement. In this post, we summarize some of the key pending legislation in …
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New Video Explainer Focuses on Primary Driver of High Health Care Prices: Health Care Consolidation
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor December 6, 2021
Health care consolidation has been on the rise for decades, leading to higher health care prices, not higher quality. Today, two-thirds of hospitals in the U.S. are part of a larger health system; almost 1 in 3 physicians now works in a hospital-owned practice. Many regions are dominated by a single system, leaving patients and families without access to affordable, high-quality care. Arnold Ventures recently released the second video in a series about high health care prices and the impact they have on health care costs and affordability for …
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The Source Roundup: December 2021 Edition
Enne Mae Guerrero, Graduate Research Fellow December 1, 2021
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 …
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FTC Restores and Implements Prior Approval Rule with Provision in DaVita Divestiture Order
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor November 15, 2021
In July 2021, President Biden’s executive order called on federal agencies to strengthen antitrust enforcement in the healthcare industry to promote and revitalize healthcare competition and price transparency in the U.S. In response to the call to action, the agencies, particularly the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), have mobilized and stepped up their efforts by providing additional guidance and oversight of consolidation in the healthcare market. In this issue of Litigation and Enforcement Highlights, we take a look at the FTC’s reinstatement and implementation of the prior approval rule, the latest …
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New Documentary Exposes the Alarming Trend of Hospital Monopolies and the Impact on Costs
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor November 8, 2021
The new film InHospitable is a timely documentary that follows patients and activists as they battle UPMC, a multi-billion dollar nonprofit hospital system that was making vital care unaffordable for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable patients in western Pennsylvania. The film highlights the urgency of holding large health systems accountable for their significant role in our broken healthcare system. Slated to have its world premiere on November 13th at DOC NYC, anyone in the U.S. can watch it online from November 14 – 28. Tickets are available here for in-person …
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The Source Roundup: November 2021 Edition
Hannah Park, Student Fellow November 1, 2021
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 …
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Webinar Recording Available: State Approaches to Mitigating Health Provider Consolidation and Its Effects on Prices
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 21, 2021
On October 21, the Milbank Memorial Fund and the Source on Healthcare Price and Competition hosted a webinar on steps that states are taking to foster more competitive health care markets and lower health care prices, featuring The Source Senior Health Policy Researcher Katie Gudiksen and state regulators from Connecticut and Oregon. The recording is now available to watch for free: Watch Recording Download Powerpoint Presentation (Katie Gudiksen) For more information, check out the 3-part Milbank Memorial Bank series authored by the Source team. The first brief called for collaboration of state and …
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California Attorney General Imposes Conditions of Price Cap and Prohibition of Anticompetitive Practices on Cross-Market Acquisition in Northern California
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 14, 2021
California is one of the leading states in healthcare antitrust enforcement. Following the footsteps of former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who led the antitrust lawsuit against northern California hospital giant Sutter Health, the new attorney general Rob Bonta continues to exercise the AG’s expansive authority with aggressive enforcement actions in the California provider market. Earlier in the summer, the AG’s office settled a lawsuit filed by Cedars-Sinai Health System and Huntington Memorial Hospital, with revised competitive impact conditions on the cross-market affiliation in Southern California to address potential harms …
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Join a Webinar on State Approaches to Mitigating Health Provider Consolidation and Its Effects on Prices
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 7, 2021
Increasingly, hospitals have merged to form dominant health systems that can exert market power and charge anticompetitive prices that increase health care prices and burden the economy. A recent series of Milbank Memorial Fund issue briefs by researchers from the Source for Healthcare Price on Competition identified specific state policies and practices that can deter health care provider concentration, including improved merger review, oversight of anticompetitive conduct, and bans on potentially anticompetitive contract terms that apply to health insurers and providers. On October 21 at 3 p.m., ET, the Milbank …
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