State governments throughout the nation are establishing methods to evaluation healthcare mergers and acquisitions. Within the newest instance,  Indiana Governor Eric J. Holcomb lately signed a invoice into legislation that can require notification to the state of healthcare entity mergers and acquisitions.

In 2022, the State of Oregon launched a Well being Care Market Oversight (HCMO) program to evaluation enterprise offers that consolidate the well being system in a method that might impacts, prices, high quality, entry and fairness for Oregonians. Most physicians within the Portland metro space work for well being methods. Via this system, native communities and the state will evaluation proposed enterprise offers to ensure they may assist – and never harm – Oregon’s shared targets of well being fairness, decrease shopper prices, elevated entry, and higher care.

The Minnesota Legislature handed a legislation that may require a state evaluation of some proposed mergers of hospitals or healthcare methods – and permit them to be blocked if they’re deemed detrimental to the general public or would result in lowered well being outcomes for Minnesotans

The Indiana measure, efficient July 1, 2024, provides a brand new Chapter 8.5 to the Indiana Code offering in Part 4(a) that “[a]n Indiana well being care entity that’s concerned in a merger or acquisition with one other well being care entity with whole property, together with mixed entities and holdings, of not less than ten million {dollars} ($10,000,000) shall, not less than ninety (90) days previous to the merger or acquisition, present written discover of the merger or acquisition to the workplace of the legal professional basic in a way prescribed by the workplace of the legal professional basic.”

State Sen. Chris Garten (R-Charlestown), who authored the invoice, mentioned that the invoice would promote competitors in Indiana’s healthcare system to assist decrease prices for Hoosiers.

“Hoosiers spend an excessive amount of of their hard-earned cash on healthcare, partially due to an absence of market competitors in our healthcare house,” mentioned Garten in an announcement. “Senate Enrolled Act 9 would enhance transparency on healthcare mergers and acquisitions so our state can take needed steps to contemplate what affect these enterprise offers might have on Hoosiers’ entry to inexpensive healthcare companies.”

The act is a direct results of suggestions the Well being Care Value Oversight Activity Power made in the course of the 2023 interim. The duty power, which Garten chaired, studied the explanation why Hoosiers proceed to pay among the many highest healthcare prices within the nation. Testimony throughout job power conferences highlighted the function market consolidation performs in driving up healthcare prices. 
The invoice can also be a product of healthcare stakeholders’ work to create a merger evaluation coverage for Indiana that permits the state to observe potential antitrust points.