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CA to Cap Health Care Providers’ Annual Price Increases at 3% California’s Health Care Affordability Board voted to limit annual price increases from doctors, hospitals and health insurers...
VT Retailers Fight Data Privacy Bill Orvis and other online retailers based in Vermont are mounting an effort to scale back comprehensive consumer data privacy legislation ( HB 121 ) that has been passed...
Even as states are falling behind on their greenhouse gas emissions goals , that topic remains a top priority in legislatures across the country. Numerous bills have been introduced this year that would...
States Loosening Occupational Licensing Laws In an effort to boost their workforces, states are advancing legislation to loosen their occupational licensing laws. For example, the Louisiana House passed...
ME House Passes Restrictive Data Privacy Bill Maine’s House narrowly approved a bill ( LD 1977 ) that would impose restrictions on the digital information that companies can collect. Businesses...
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice are currently reviewing public comments on draft guidelines for cross-market mergers, including those in the healthcare sector, such as the planned merger by the end of this year of Saint Luke’s, the second-largest health system in Kansas City, Missouri, and BJC HealthCare, the largest health system in St. Louis.
Over half of the hospital mergers and acquisitions during the past decade have been cross-market deals, and 60% of health systems now operate hospitals in more than one geographic market. Such deals can increase patient costs. Researchers have found that cross-market merged hospitals in the same state raised prices 7-10% more than other hospitals.
In Missouri state officials could still intervene. Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) is reviewing the merger and must approve it in order for it to close. (KFF HEALTH NEWS)
A bill (HB 5806) introduced in the U.S. House would prohibit chemical abortions. The measure, with 18 Republican sponsors as of late Thursday (10/5), comes on the 23rd anniversary of the abortion drug mifepristone—now the most common form of abortion nationwide—receiving FDA approval. (POLITICO, STATE NET)
Over 75,000 Kaiser Permanente support staff, lab technicians and other workers began a three-day strike last week after failing to reach a new contract agreement with the health system, which serves over 13 million people in eight states. Union leaders said it might be the largest healthcare worker strike in recent U.S. history. It also marks a shift in the health system’s relatively trouble-free relationship with its workers. (NEW YORK TIMES)
—Compiled by SNCJ Managing Editor KOREY CLARK
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