Editor’s Note:  CRE will be closely following this case.  Lawsuits which potentially expose “the health care system to hundreds of millions of dollars in damages” threaten health care prices for all Americans.

From: Crain’s Chicago Business

By  Andrew L. Wang

A federal judge has granted class-action status to an antitrust lawsuit challenging NorthShore University HealthSystem’s acquisition of Highland Park Hospital, a ruling that potentially exposes the health care system to hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for allegedly jacking up prices.

Editor’s Note:  Below is yet another example of why concerns about hospital clout lack a basis in facts.

From: Financial Times

New Affordable Care US health plans will exclude top hospitals

By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington

Americans who are buying insurance plans over online exchanges, under what is known as Obamacare, will have limited access to some of the nation’s leading hospitals, including two world-renowned cancer centres.

Editor’s Note: The following is yet another article that assumes that hospital consolidation, undertaken to reduce costs, is responsible for rising hospital prices without any demonstration of causality. 

From: SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle

‘Convoluted’ hospital pricing under scrutiny

Andrew S. Ross

Making the front page of the New York Times can be a cause for congratulation. Not so, unfortunately, for California Pacific Medical Center.

In a lead story which ran over three pages Tuesday, the center emerges as a prime example of what the Times calls “convoluted hospital pricing.” In other words, charging $2,229 for stitching up a patient’s knee at its Pacific Heights campus in San Francisco, $32,901 for a heart X-ray and $20 for a codeine pill, according to CPMC records.

From: Times-Picayune/NOLA.com

By Ben Myers, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

As the Jefferson Parish Council nears a decision of which private company will operate East Jefferson General Hospital and West Jefferson Medical Center, the two leading competitors for the deal are picking apart each other’s proposal in hopes of gaining an advantage. The selection has been on hold for three months since the two hospital boards failed to agree on an operator: East Jefferson prefers Hospital Corp. of America, and West Jefferson endorses Louisiana Children’s Medical Center.

Editor’s Note:  Academicians have theorized that hospital consolidation provides health care providers with “clout” over insurance companies which raises health care prices.  The following front page article from The Washington Post makes clear that it is the insurance companies who have the clout.

From: The Washington Post

Insurers restricting choice of doctors and hospitals to keep costs down

By Sandhya Somashekhar and Ariana Eunjung Cha

As Americans have begun shopping for health plans on the insurance exchanges, they are discovering that insurers are restricting their choice of doctors and hospitals in order to keep costs low, and that many of the plans exclude top-rated hospitals.

Editor’s Note:  The Prepared Statement of FTC Chairwoman Ramirez before the House Judicairy Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law is attached here.  Below is a news article discussing the Chairwoman’s testimony.

From: LifeHealthPro

FTC sees health mergers as threat

By Allison Bell

The head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says the FTC views antitrust review of health care sector mergers and acquisitions as a top priority.

The FTC chairwoman, Edith Ramirez, talked about FTC health care deal antitrust enforcement efforts last week at a House Judiciary Committee antitrust subcommittee hearing.

Editor’s Note:  The authors below suggest that “local governments may want to introduce new policies” in response to hospital consolidation– including policies that would increase healthcare costs for many patients by charging “consumers more for high-priced clinicians and health care centers….”  The article’s policy recommendation faces two key areas of resistance. First, consumers may very well perceive regulations which limit their access to preferred health care providers as being anti-consumer, not pro-consumer. Second, the recomendation would create a policy conflict between local regulators seeking to protect consumers from possible effects from provider consolidation and the federal policy officials promoting such consolidation. Increased local-federal regulatory conflicts would likely lead to increased friction in the healthcare market.

The Lawyer

Plans to merge Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals and Poole Hospital Trusts were thwarted by the Competition Commission (CC) last month amid concerns the move would reduce competition and choice for patients, leading to a fall in standards.

This is the first time the CC has intervened in an NHS merger and the decision could have far-reaching implications for any other trusts wishing to merge. In particular, it is clear that foundation trusts will have to put forward a much stronger case to show a merger is in the interest of patients.