Healthcare Competition and Consolidation Vertical Integration and Market Consolidation in Healthcare: Policy Drivers and Impact on Physicians and Patient Care (Seminars in Colon and Rectal Surgery) Rachel Ekaireb, Anna Yap, and Robert Kucejko Over the past several decades, the healthcare market has become increasingly consolidated. For instance, in the last twelve years alone, the percentage of physicians employed by hospitals or healthcare systems has more than doubled from 26% to 55%. While proponents for vertical integration have touted its potential to improve the efficiency and quality of care delivery, empirical …

No Decision in AAEM-PG v. Envision Case: A Potential Precedent-Setting Corporate Practice of Medicine and Private Equity Case is Avoided  A decision in the long-anticipated case, the American Academy of Emergency Medicine Physician Group (AAEM-PG) v. Envision Healthcare, will not come to pass, as Envision, a private equity-backed emergency physician staffing company, choose to exit the California market.  In a press release, AAEM-PG stated a concern about whether a California court could retain jurisdiction over the case after Envision exited, and noted that a confidential settlement had been made.   Experts, …

Healthcare Cost and Spending Promoting Value-Based Healthcare Decisions: A Case Study of Shared Savings Programs in New Hampshire and Maine (Pepperdine Policy Review) Christopher LaCreta and Lawson Mansell Shared savings programs (SSPs) are an emerging policy solution to combatting the rise of healthcare costs. SSPs enable patients to compare prices and receive incentives for saving money on some elective services. Researchers from Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy recently published results from their case study on the disparities between SSPs in Maine and New Hampshire. Both states passed legislation to …

Healthcare System Mergers and Investments Private Equity-Acquired Physician Practices and Market Penetration Increased Substantially, 2012-21 (Health Affairs) Ola Abdelhadi, Brent D. Fulton, Laura Alexander, and Richard M. Scheffler The awareness for private equity’s influence on the healthcare sector continues to grow and be quantified. Generally, there has been concern among parties in the health care system regarding the rate at which private equity firms have been acquiring physician practices, creating antitrust, quality, and pricing concerns within the broader health system. A new Health Affairs study estimated the local market share …

The California Legislature wrapped up its annual introduction period for new bills on February 16. Among the wide swath of proposed health care bills, one, in particular, has caught the attention of many legal experts and players in the health care field. AB-3129 was introduced by Assemblymember Jim Wood and Attorney General (AG) Rob Bonta on the last day of the introduction period.  It proposes sweeping regulations around how private equity firms and hedge funds can participate in owning and managing healthcare facilities. The introduction of the bill comes amidst …

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 …

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 …

Private equity investment in health care across the country has continued to garner the attention of health policy researchers and policymakers in recent years. Stakeholders are concerned that private equity ownership of physician practices prioritizes profit over patient care quality. Despite concerns of potential impacts on price and quality arising from  these private equity transactions in the health care industry, few enforcement actions have occurred. Last month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took the lead in challenging one of these arrangements, suing a private equity firm retroactively in federal court …

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 …