Our Research in the Media

Petris Research Cited in CA Attorney General’s Lawsuit Against Sutter Health

Posted on By alexandra-peltz

On Friday, March 30th, the Office of the California Attorney General announced it was suing Sutter Health, the largest hospital system in Northern California, for anti-competitive practices that increase healthcare prices for Californians. The announcement and complaint that was filed both heavily cite the Petris Center’s newly released  report “Consolidation in California’s Health Care Market 2010-2016: Impact on Prices and ACA Premiums.” As the Attorney General writes, “Earlier this week, Attorney General Becerra called for action in light of a new report by University of California Berkeley’s Petris Center on Health Care Markets and Consumer Welfare. The report documents how the rapid consolidation of healthcare markets in California has led to rising healthcare costs for consumers throughout the state. Market consolidation in Northern California was especially glaring. The cost of the average inpatient hospital procedure in Northern California $223,278 exceeded that in Southern California $131,586 by more than $90,000.”

You can read the press release from the Office of the California Attorney Genreal regarding the lawsuit here.

You can read the full Petris Center report here.

New Health Affairs Blog from the Petris Center – Financing Universal Coverage In California: A Berkeley Forum Roadmap

Posted on By alexandra-peltz

Today, Health Affairs published a new blog by Petris Center researchers, entitled “Financing Universal Coverage In California: A Berkeley Forum Roadmap.” The blog provides updated estimates of health spending in California under the status quo for the period 2015 through 2022, and of the potential expenditure reductions from implementing the three Berkeley Forum cost-saving initiatives – global budgets/integrated care systems, patient-centered medical homes, and palliative care – for the period 2018 through 2022. The blog shows that if California were able to capture these spending reductions, they could be used to finance health coverage for the remaining uninsured Californians.

You can read the full blog on the Health Affairs website here.

The blog is a companion piece to the Petris Center report “Proposal to Use Three Initiatives to Lower Healthcare Spending and Finance Universal Health Insurance Coverage in California.” You can read the full report here.

Just Released Petris Report: Proposal to Use Three Initiatives to Lower Healthcare Spending and Finance Universal Health Insurance Coverage in California

Posted on By alexandra-peltz

The Petris Center has released a new report, “Proposal to Use Three Initiatives to Lower Healthcare Spending and Finance Universal Health Insurance Coverage in California,” authored by Petris Center Director Dr. Richard Scheffler, Associated Director Dr. Brent Fulton, Petris Research Associate Donald Hoang, and Dr. Stephen Shortell.  Health expenditures in California continue to grow with respect to the state’s gross domestic product, resulting in healthcare becoming more unaffordable to the state, employers, and individuals. In this report, the authors project health spending in the California from 2015 to 2022. They then estimate potential reductions in spending from the Berkeley Forum for Improving California’s Healthcare Delivery System’s initiatives to increase the use of global budgets/integrated care systems, patient-centered medical homes, and palliative care. By 2022, these initiatives generate an estimated $15.4 billion in health spending reductions, an amount sufficient to provide universal health insurance coverage in the state at a cost of $7.2 billion. The State of California, the federal government, and the private sector should consider accelerating their programs related to these initiatives to help achieve these health expenditure reductions.

A companion article “Financing Universal Coverage in California: A Berkeley Forum Roadmap” to this report was published on the Health Affairs Blog on March 29, 2018. You can read the blog post on the Health Affairs website here.

You can read the full report here.

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Scheffler Discusses New Petris Study on KRON 4 News

Posted on By alexandra-peltz

Dr. Scheffler was interviewed on KRON 4 News yesterday about the new Petris Center report “Consolidation in California’s Health Care Market 2010-2016: Impact on Prices and ACA Premiums.” The interview focused on the study’s finding that healthcare prices were 30% higher in Northern California than in Southern California, even after adjusting for the region’s higher cost of living. These higher prices are correlated with higher consolidation, which leaves consumers with fewer choices for their healthcare and gives hospitals and insurers the ability to charge more.

You can watch the video of the interview with KRON 4 here.

You can read the full Petris Center report here, and can listen to the audio of the press conference with Attorney General Becerra and Dr. Scheffler announcing the report here.

New Petris Report Featured in Politico Pulse this Morning

Posted on By alexandra-peltz

The Petris Center’s newly-released report “Consolidation in California’s Health Care Market 2010-2016: Impact on Prices and ACA Premiums” was featured this morning in Politico Pulse, a daily health care and health policy briefing from Politico read widely across the industry.

You can read the Politico Pulse write-up of our report here.

You can read the full Petris Center report here, and can listen to the audio of the press conference with Attorney General Becerra and Dr. Scheffler announcing the report here.

Dr. Scheffler Interviewed on ABC 7 News About New Petris Study Connecting California’s High Healthcare Costs and Market Concentration

Posted on By alexandra-peltz

ABC 7 News interviewed Petris Center Director Dr. Richard Scheffler about the Petris Center’s newly released study “Consolidation in California’s Health Care Market 2010-2016: Impact on Prices and ACA Premiums.” The study found the rapid acceleration of market concentration in California, and importantly, that highly concentrated markets are associated with higher healthcare costs for consumers – including that healthcare prices can cost up to 30% more in Northern California than in Southern California. In the interview, Dr. Scheffler discusses how these high prices are affecting consumers and how the California Attorney General’s office will investigate this consolidation and its impacts on prices.

You can watch the full video of ABC 7’s interview and report here.

You can read the full Petris Center report here, and can listen to the audio of the press conference with Attorney General Becerra and Dr. Scheffler announcing the report here.

Capital Public Radio Discusses Potential Political Effects of New Petris Report: “Health Care Mergers And Rising Prices Under Scrutiny In California”

Posted on By alexandra-peltz

Sacramento’s Capital Public Radio published an article today about the Petris Center’s new report on consolidation in California’s health care markets and its potential to have broader political effects. The article discusses how health care consolidation — identified in part by the new Petris Center report — and the effect of the consolidation on prices and premiums have caught the eye of California elected officials, ranging from the state legislature to the California Attorney General’s office. The article concludes with a quote from Petris Center Director Dr. Richard Scheffler on the potential cost savings that addressing consolidation would bring.

You can read the Capital Public Radio article here.

You can read the newly released Petris Center report “Consolidation in California’s Health Care Market 2010-2016: Impact on Prices and ACA Premiums” here. You can also listen to the audio of the press conference with California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Dr. Scheffler, announcing the release of the report, here.

Petris Report Covered in SF Chronicle: “Healthcare costs 30% more in Northern than in Southern California”

Posted on By alexandra-peltz

Today, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article covering a newly released Petris Center report on consolidation in California’s health care markets. The article, entitled “Healthcare costs 30% more in Northern than in Southern California”, discusses the report’s key finding that people living in areas where there is greater consolidation among hospitals, physician groups and insurance companies pay more for health care. In particular, the article focuses on the report’s finding that “prices for medical procedures are 20 to 30 percent higher in Northern California than in Southern California — even after adjusting for the Bay Area’s higher cost of living and wages.”

You can read the full San Francisco Chronicle article here.

You can read the newly released Petris Center report “Consolidation in California’s Health Care Market 2010-2016: Impact on Prices and ACA Premiums” here. You can also listen to the audio of the press conference with California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, announcing the release of the report, here.

California Attorney General Holds Press Conference with Dr. Scheffler to Announce New Petris Report on California’s Healthcare Market Concentration

Posted on By alexandra-peltz

This morning, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Petris Center Director Dr. Richard Scheffler held a press conference to release a new report by the Petris Center. The report, entitled “Consolidation in California’s Health Care Market 2010-2016: Impact on Prices and ACA Premiums,” shows the rapid and considerable consolidation of hospital, physician, and health care insurance markets across the state. It provides evidence that these highly concentrated markets are associated with higher healthcare costs for consumers – including that healthcare prices can cost up to 30% more in Northern California than in Southern California, even after adjusting for the Bay Area’s higher cost of living and wages. During the press conference, Attorney General Becerra announced his office’s intentions to review the report closely and work with Dr. Scheffler and the Petris Center to probe deeper into the issue of healthcare market concentration in CA.

You can read the full Petris Center report here.

You can listen to the full audio of the press conference with Attorney General Becerra and Dr. Scheffler here.

Just Released in Human Resource for Health – “Forecasting Imbalances in the Global Health Labor Market and Devising Policy Responses”

Posted on By alexandra-peltz

Petris Center researchers have a new paper released in the Journal of Human Resources for Health. The paper, titled “Forecasting Imbalances in the Global Health Labor Market and Devising Policy Responses”, was co-authored by Petris Center Director Dr. Richard Scheffler and Petris Research Director Dr. Daniel Arnold, as well as researchers from the WHO, World Bank, OCED, UC Irvine, and UCSF.

The paper examines two recent key workforce reports – one done by the World Health Organization (WHO) that used a needs-based approach and one done by the World Bank that uses a labor market approach – examining how their key findings were developed, the global policy dilemmas they raise, and relevant policy solutions. The full paper can be accessed here.