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January 25, 2024
Report
Erin C. Fuse Brown
Katherine L. Gudiksen
Publication
Apr 10, 2024
Apr 3, 2024
Nov 2, 2023
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State policymakers are urgently seeking tools to address rampant health care market consolidation, which drives health care costs higher and can threaten health care access and quality for patients. Traditional antitrust tools are often inadequate to address novel forms of health care consolidation, including vertical consolidation of health systems and physician practices, cross-market acquisitions across state lines, and the rapid entry of private equity, retail giants, and health insurers into health care provider markets. In response, some states have strengthened and expanded the authority of their attorney general, along with the health department or an independent state entity, to provide greater oversight over health care transactions. This report describes how states have expanded oversight over health care transactions in two primary ways:
(1) Expanding the Review Authority of the Attorney General or Other State Agency: by requiring prior notice of a broader scope of transactions and/or establishing the ability to block or impose conditions upon the transaction without a court order; and
(2) Giving Authority to Review Transactions to Additional Oversight Entities: by vesting another state entity (in addition to the state attorney general) with the authority to review and report on a proposed transaction’s broader health care market impact.
To assist state policymakers seeking to increase health care market oversight, we reviewed state statutes and regulations regarding health care transactions and interviewed state officials and staff members in eight states with expanded authority to review health care transactions. This report synthesizes this legal analysis and lessons from state conversations to present recommendations and policy considerations for state policymakers to strengthen oversight authority of health care transactions.
