Richard Scheffler and Barak Richman discuss the crucial divide that lies ahead for policymakers interested in preventing the spread of PE-induced damage within the health care markets. The authors explain why the events of 2024 led to increased scrutiny led by the Biden administration and a few states pursing their own reforms.
To read the article, please click the link here.
Andréa Caballero, Vice President of Policy at Catalyst for Payment Reform, calls Katie Gudiksen, Executive Editor at The Source on Healthcare Price and Competition, and Brent Fulton, Associate Research Professor of Health Economics at UC Berkeley and Associate Director of the Petris Center to dissect the evolving landscape of hospital consolidation. They explore horizontal, vertical, and, crucially, cross-market mergers, providing context on their prevalence and challenging conventional wisdom around market definitions. The discussion highlights how consolidation, irrespective of type, demonstrably increases prices without corresponding quality improvements – a critical concern for purchasers.
To read more about the research discussed, please click the link here. Link to the podcast.
After years of working with our Petris team as the director of research, Dan Arnold has moved to Brown University. We are thankful to Dan for all his many contributions to the Petris Center and are very pleased that he will continue to work with us as an affiliated scholar.
Dr. Arnold’s research focuses on the impact of health care consolidation on prices, quality, and
wages. He has published in Health Affairs, JAMA Health Forum, and Health Services Research
and his work has been cited by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco
Chronicle.
He has assessed the likely competitive effects of health care mergers for the California Attorney
General, the California Office of Health Care Affordability, and the Connecticut Office of Health
Strategy.
Dr. Arnold received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara
and his B.A. from Cornell University.
We are pleased to announce that Deborah Ann Haas-Wilson who is the Marilyn Carlson Nelson Professor Emerita of Economics at Smith College and a leading expert on health care antitrust issues will be joining the Petris Center as a Distinguished Senior Scholar.
Professor Haas-Wilson served as the testifying expert for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in
the matter of Evanston Health Corp. (Docket No. 9315) and in the U.S. District Court for the plaintiffs in the matter of Saint Alphonsus Medical System v. St. Luke’s Health System (Case No. 1:12-cv-00560). She has served as an economic consultant on antitrust matters for the Massachusetts Attorney General, the California Attorney General, the California Department of Managed Care, and numerous private parties.
Professor Haas-Wilson’s current research focuses on competition and competition policies in
health care markets. Her articles have been published in the Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Law and Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Health Economics and other peer-reviewed journals. She is the author of Managed Care and Monopoly Power: The Antitrust Challenge (Harvard University Press, 2003) and co-editor of Uncertain Times: Kenneth Arrow and the Changing Economics of Health Care (Duke University Press, 2003).
She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and her B.A.
from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
On October 2nd, 2024, Richard Scheffler was awarded the Emeriti Association’s “Emeriti of the Year” Award, alongside Michael Buckland. Both recipients have made significant contributions to their fields after retirement and continue to have a major influence on academic and policy discussions in their fields.
Read more about the Emeritus of the Year event here.
Richard Scheffler is awarded a fellowship award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his distinguished contributions to the fields of health economics, competition in health care, and the development and implementation of domestic and global public health policy.
Becker’s Hospital Review article shares that Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, have a history of challenging major healthcare corporations. However, health policy experts are unclear about how forcefully they would pursue these efforts at the national level if elected. Richard Scheffler, PhD, as noted in the article, suggests that healthcare conglomerates using their market power to raise prices should be concerned under this administration.
Read the full Becker’s Hospital Review here.
Currently, both Democratic and Republican politicians are focusing on combating health care conglomerates that they believe drive up costs and limit access. The health care industry’s significant economic influence often makes it challenging for politicians to enforce strict regulations. As health care costs remain a critical issue in the 2024 presidential race, both Harris and Walz’s previous actions suggest they might continue to challenge corporate power, although how forcefully remains uncertain. Richard Scheffler, quoted in the article, explains that health care conglomerates who are using their market power to raise prices should be concerned under a Harris-Walz administration.
Read the full Washington Post article here.
During her time as California’s Attorney General from 2011 to 2017, Kamala Harris investigated concentration in healthcare markets, supporting the work for her successor, Xavier Becerra, to challenge anticompetitive behavior by Sutter Health.
Read the full article here. Visit the Health Affairs article here.
A NIHCM (National Institute for Health Care Management) Foundation article features a study conducted by Ola Abdelhad under the Petris Center. The article discusses growth in private equity firm acquisition of physician practices, raising concern about the impact on healthcare market competition, quality, and pricing.
Click here to read the full article on the NIHCM website.
