Health Care Transactions

States are increasingly exercising regulatory oversight of health care transactions by enacting laws requiring prior notice or approval of certain health care transactions. Currently, 15 states have enacted health care transaction review laws applicable to for-profit transactions. On Wednesday, March 20, 2024, Mintz members Daniel A. Cody, Deborah A. Daccord, and Karen S. Lovitch engaged in an insightful discussion with Lois Johnson, General Counsel of Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, to discuss the latest developments surrounding these laws and gain valuable insight from Ms. Johnson’s expertise, as Massachusetts was one of the first states to implement a health care transaction review process. The highlights of this informative conversation are summarized below, and the webinar can be viewed here.

On March 13, 2024, Indiana joined the ranks of states exercising greater oversight and regulation of health care transactions. Senate Enrolled Act No. 9 (S.B. 9), which takes effect on July 1, 2024, requires written notice to the Indiana Attorney General (the AG) 90 days in advance of an acquisition or merger involving an Indiana “health care entity” that results in a change of control. The law does not grant the AG authority to approve or deny a transaction, but the AG may evaluate any antitrust concerns and issue a civil investigative demand for additional information.

On March 1, 2024, New Mexico joined a growing number of states in enacting legislation that increases oversight of certain health care transactions. Senate Bill 15 (S.B. 15), which adds a new section to the New Mexico Insurance Code (the Code) titled the “Health Care Consolidation Oversight Act” (the Act), takes effect on May 1, 2024.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (AG) and Assembly Speaker pro Tempore Jim Wood recently introduced legislation (AB-3129) that would authorize the AG to review private equity group and hedge fund health care transactions. The proposed legislation’s stated intention is to address price increases and lower quality of and decreased accessibility to services associated with private equity acquisitions of certain health care entities, including physician practices. This article provides an overview of the proposed bill, an analysis of the key issues raised by the proposed legislation, and suggestions for next steps for those potentially affected by the proposal.

California’s health omnibus trailer bill SB-184 and the final cost and market impact review (CMIR) regulations (CMIR Regulations), which went into effect on December 18, 2023, have ushered in a significant change in California’s health care regulatory landscape with the creation of the Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA). On January 2, 2024, OHCA began accepting notices of covered transactions through its notice of material change transaction submission portal.

California’s new Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) is set to start pre-closing regulatory review of certain health care transactions on January 1, 2024. As further explained in our previous post, subject to certain exceptions, a broad range of health care entities (collectively, Health Care Entities) soon will be subject to potential pre-closing transaction review.

California’s new Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) is set to begin advance regulatory review of certain health care transactions beginning January 1, 2024. As further explained in our previous post, subject to certain exceptions, a broad range of health care entities (collectively, Health Care Entities) will soon be subject to potential prospective transaction review. OHCA initially published proposed regulations for the new transaction review process in early August (for more details, see our prior post and podcast).  As further discussed in our previous post, these proposed regulations were revised in October and made available on the OHCA website, with a comment period that ended on October 17, 2023. In response to October’s public comments, OHCA has further revised the proposed regulations (Revised Regulations), which are available here. This time however, OHCA has also provided notice of proposed emergency regulatory action, indicating that this version of the regulations will be submitted to the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) for approval. Once submitted, the public will have five days to provide comments to the OAL. If the OAL approves the regulations, it will file them with the California Secretary of State and the regulations will become effective as emergency regulations for five years as of the filing date. During this period, OHCA will proceed with regular rulemaking action addressing prospective health care transaction review.

Governor Newsom signed 890 bills and vetoed 156 bills in 2023. Every year, California passes multiple laws that impact health care practitioners and health facilities and, as further described below, 2023 is no exception. From physician assistant supervision to nursing facility informed consent requirements, these laws will present various new compliance considerations for health care practitioners and health facilities as soon as January 1, 2024.

California’s new Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) is set to begin advance regulatory review of certain health care transactions beginning January 1, 2024. As further explained in our previous post, subject to certain exceptions, third party payers and administrators, hospitals, hospital systems, fully integrated delivery systems, pharmacy benefit managers, physician organizations, and other providers (collectively, Health Care Entities) will soon be subject to potential prospective transaction review. OHCA initially published proposed regulations for the new transaction review process in early August (for more details, see our prior post and our podcast). Multiple stakeholders expressed concerns with the proposed regulations during the public comment period, which ended August 31, 2023. In response to these comments, OHCA has published revised proposed regulations (Revised Regulations) allowing for an abbreviated comment period that ends October 17, 2023. The Revised Regulations are available here.

January 1, 2024 is rapidly approaching, which is when California’s new Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) is set to begin advance regulatory review of certain health care mergers, acquisitions, affiliations, and other arrangements that result in material changes of assets, control, or governance. The law establishing OHCA left many details regarding the types of transactions that would be subject to review to be established by emergency regulations, which have been proposed and are available here. A public workshop will be held on August 15, 2023 (more information here), allowing for public comment and the written comment period will be open until August 31, 2023. The final emergency rulemaking package is expected to be submitted in October 2023.

The latest episode of Mintz’s Health Law Diagnosed podcast covers key takeaways from our 6th Annual Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Industry Summit.

2021 was a busy year for Mintz ’s Health Law team, as they helped clients navigate complex health care transactions.

On September 15, 2021, the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) issued a favorable Advisory Opinion regarding a hospital’s proposal to implement a program through which patients who experience complications after specific joint replacement procedures can receive free items and services to treat the complications. The OIG likened the program to a warranty for joint replacement procedures.

Not surprisingly, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, California legislators proposed hundreds of health-related bills in 2021. For those who are unfamiliar with the intricacies of the Golden State’s legislative process, June 5, 2021 was the deadline for the California Legislature to pass bills introduced in their house of origin. Accordingly, during the week of June 7th, the Senate and Assembly resumed policy committee hearings, reviewing measures from the opposite house.

Along with proposed legislation addressing health care funding, health care access, mental health and substance abuse treatment, disaster preparedness, and other issues brought to the forefront by the pandemic, there are multiple bills that seem to be aimed at various concerns raised by corporate involvement in the provision of health care. Below is an update on a few of the bills that fall into the latter category, including SB 642, which we discussed in more detail in a prior post.

On May 3, 2021, the California Senate Health Committee approved SB-642 “Health care: facilities: medical privileges.” The bill is currently pending in the California Senate. AB-705, which is substantially similar to SB-642, is also pending in the California Assembly. If passed, the law will curtail hospital governing bodies’ ability to make decisions about the medical services provided at the facility without medical staff approval, impose new limitations on arrangements between management services organizations and professional corporations, and add additional factors to the Attorney General’s review and approval of nonprofit health care facility transactions.

As you know, we have been parsing through the HHS rules that finalize important changes to the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law) regulations, which go into effect January 19, 2021. Today, we are taking a look at changes to existing AKS safe harbors and Stark Law exceptions, and, an extra add-on: a new Stark Exception for Limited Remuneration to a Physician. Mintz is also hosting a webinar during which we will review the key provisions from the final rules and provide practical examples of how the industry can take advantage of these significant changes. We hope you can join us.

This third post in our multi-part series on the final rules examines the three new AKS safe harbors and four new Stark Law exceptions that offer protection for value-based arrangements. The primary goal of these final rules is to reduce regulatory barriers and advance the health care industry’s transition to value-based care. Value-based care, often referred to as pay-for-performance, is a payment model that offers health care providers and suppliers financial incentives to meet certain performance measures that improve quality of care or appropriately reduce costs, as opposed to traditional fee-for-service or capitated payments healthcare reimbursement.

Plus, we have prepared easy-to-read comparison charts breaking down the current, proposed, and final regulations. These comparison charts offer a quick way to get up to speed on these voluminous final rules and their many historic changes to the AKS and Stark Law.