PRICE AND QUALITY TRANSPARENCY
The Source Roundup: July 2024 Edition
Bruce Allain, Managing Editor July 1, 2024
Mergers, Acquisitions and Healthcare Competition Is There Too Little Antitrust Enforcement in the U.S. Hospital Sector? (American Economic Association) Zarek Brot-Goldberg, Zack Cooper, Stuart Craig, Lev Klarnet From 2002 to 2020, there were more than 1,100 hospital mergers with a 1% enforcement rate by the FTC resulting in only 13 blocked transactions. The authors of this study speculate low rates of enforcement could be due to factors including budgetary issues and jurisprudence that favors mergers. It is estimated these mergers resulted in a high concentration of hospital markets in “90% …
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The Source Roundup: June 2024 Edition
Kassie Miller, Student Fellow June 1, 2024
Effects of Market Consolidation Cost, Quality, and Utilization After Hospital-Physician and Hospital-Post Acute Care Vertical Integration: A Systematic Review (Medical Care Research and Review) Alexandra Harris, Sarah Philbin, Brady Post, Neil Jordan, Molly Beestrum, Richard Epstein, Megan McHugh To determine the impact of vertical integration, the authors examine the associations between two types of integration, hospital-physician and hospital-Post Acute Care (PAC), and their effect on cost, quality, and utilization of healthcare services as they relate to affordable care. Assessment of these impacts through the lens of financial benefits the found …
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The Source Roundup: May 2024 Edition
Dilani Logan, Student Fellow May 1, 2024
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 …
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Governor Newsom’s Healthcare Budget Proposal for 2024-25
Dilani Logan, Student Fellow January 22, 2024
On January 10, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom released his proposed California state budget for 2024-2025. In a year where the state was expected to struggle financially, the Legislative Analyst’s Office had originally predicted that the budget deficit could extend upwards of $68 billion due to 2023’s seven month tax filing extension, steep stock market declines, and economic dampening from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes. However, to the surprise of many, the released budget projected a significantly smaller budgetary shortfall at $38 billon. The Governor announced plans to close this …
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Recapping the 2023 California Legislative Session (Part 2): Healthcare Services and Pharmaceutical Costs
Dilani Logan, Student Fellow December 14, 2023
In the last issue of California Legislative Beat, we examined some significant bills from year one of California’s 2023-2024 legislative term. Specifically, we focused on legislation that sought to make changes in healthcare competition, consolidation, and system reform. In part 2 of the 2023 session recap, we turn our attention to bills that aimed to tackle healthcare service and pharmaceutical costs, coverage, and price transparency. Healthcare Costs and Coverage Californians can expect to be protected from surprising dental or emergency ground medical transportation bills soon. The legislature approved and …
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The Source Roundup: November 2023 Edition
Dilani Logan, Student Fellow November 1, 2023
Healthcare Costs and Spending A Study of the Cost of Care Provided in Physician Owned Hospitals Compared to Traditional Hospitals (Physician’s Advocacy Institute and the Physicians Foundation) Robert H. Aseltine and Gregory J. Matthews The Physician’s Advocacy Institution and the Physicians Foundation released a new technical report summarizing their findings from an investigation comparing the cost of care patients across Medicare’s 20 most expensive conditions in 2019 in physician owned hospitals (POHs) and traditional hospitals. The authors assessed the statistical similarities in cost, patient demographics, and comorbidity levels between hospitals in …
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The Source Roundup: October 2023 Edition
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 2, 2023
Consolidation and Competition A Doctrine in Name Only — Strengthening Prohibitions against the Corporate Practice of Medicine (NEJM) Jane M. Zhu, Hayden Rooke-Ley, and Erin Fuse Brown The NEJM perspective examines state corporate practice of medicine laws that prevent ownership or control of physician practices by corporate entities. In an accompanying audio interview, Erin Fuse Brown discusses the role of these laws, including the usefulness and how they could be strengthened. Competition in Commercial PBM Markets and Vertical Integration of Health Insurers with PBMs: 2023 Update (American Medical Association) José R. …
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The Source Roundup: June 2023 Edition
Stephen Cosenza, Student Fellow June 1, 2023
In the past month, newly released publications have chronicled how partnerships, alternative payment models, and insurer market power affect competition and consolidation. Separately, researchers examined Affordable Care Act developments in terms of its impact on coverage and costs of health care. Moreover, as more and more price data are made publicly available, researchers studied how that data is presented, utilized, and what is reveals. Competition and Consolidation Since 2005, over 190 rural hospitals have closed across the US, and today, 600 more (the nearly one third that remain) are …
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2023 California Healthcare Bills Part 2: System Reform, Transparency, and Prescription Drug Costs
Rachel Ng, Student Fellow May 12, 2023
In the previous issue of the California Legislative Beat, we examined healthcare bills introduced in the 2023-2024 legislative term that target healthcare consolidation and competition in California (see 2023 California Healthcare Bills – Part 1). In this second part of the two-part series, we explore some newly proposed bills that seek to increase access to care, control costs, and improve transparency in data and prices. System Reform and Access California is a leader in innovative healthcare policy and initiatives, particularly to increase patients access to care while lowering overall …
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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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