A Tool for States to Address Health Care Consolidation: Improved Oversight of Health Care Provider Mergers

This commentary covers how the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP)’s Model Act for State Oversight of Proposed Health Care Mergers grants state attorneys general and state health officials with the authority to review, place conditions upon, and block potentially harmful consolidation of healthcare providers. The model requires any healthcare provider to obtain approval from the attorney general or state health cost commission before completing a transaction that would transfer control of or a material amount of assets to another party. A comprehensive and growing body of evidence demonstrates that healthcare consolidation leads to higher healthcare costs with little to no increase in quality.