8-04-2024 12:06pm

Public Hearing on Hospital Consolidations and Quality of Care Post Acquisition Tays Center August 7th

Chris Edwards Editor

The legislature of the State of New Mexico instructed the state insurance commissioner to gather public opinion and to review the hospital consolidations happening throughout the state via corporate mergers to report back to the legislature in 2025.

Locally, a public comment meeting and public hearing will be hosted at the Tays Center with the local hospital recently acquired by Christus Health in the background.

There have been numerous complaints posted on social media regarding insurance coverage that has been dropped, reproductive services and care no longer offered or minimized and more. Instead of posting on social media. The public can now be heard via public comment and via official channels by attending this upcoming meeting at Tays Center on August 7th 5 pm to 7 pm.

Why is public comment important?

National health spending totaled $4.5 trillion in 2022—17% of gross domestic product (GDP)—and is projected to grow faster than GDP through 2031, contributing to higher costs for families, employers, states, and the federal government. As policymakers consider a variety of strategies to make health care more affordable, they have been increasingly attentive to consolidation in health care markets—including mergers and acquisitions of health care providers—and the potential effects of consolidation on the cost and quality of care and other outcomes. Consolidation may allow providers to operate more efficiently, and could help struggling providers keep their doors open in underserved areas, but also often reduces competition. A substantial body of evidence has found that consolidation has led to higher prices, but the evidence on quality is unclear.

There is now a large body of research showing that health care provider consolidation tends to raise prices without clear indications of quality improvements. Even before the pandemic, the U.S. health care system was becoming increasingly consolidated. The financial strains of the pandemic could increase the pace of consolidation among hospitals and physicians, which threatens to increase health care costs and premiums, without compelling evidence of commensurate quality improvements. Remedial action from policymakers could come in the form of increasing anti-trust enforcement—including taking steps to address any potential anti-competitive behavior in markets that are already consolidated—or targeted assistance to struggling providers that are trying to remain independent.

State Oversight Considered Ongoing

Negotiations are on surrounding an effort to give the state permanent oversight over hospital mergers and acquisitions, and members of the public will have a chance to weigh in.

The New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance, which pushed earlier this year for passage of the one-year-only Health Care Consolidation Oversight Act, is hosting a meetings on how to move forward.

The compromise measure now in effect gives the insurance superintendent oversight of hospital ownership changes through July 1, 2025. It arose from concerns about how out-of-state and private equity ownership of hospitals might affect the health care landscape in New Mexico as occurred in Alamogordo with the Christus acquisition of Gerald Champion.

Gerald Champion Acquisition Was it Good for Alamogordo Citizens?

Gerald Champion is a Level III Trauma hospital with 98 beds. It’s the only hospital in Otero County, and also provides care for Holloman Air Force Base. Christus Health is a Catholic nonprofit organization overseeing about 600 health care facilities. They operate Christus St. Vincent in Santa Fe.

The local merger was rushed through even though there were those seeking to slow it.

The day the merger was announced last year a letter was sent to them via the ACLU. "We ask that you take this opportunity to build trust with those you serve by, at the very least, extending that time frame, particularly given the repeated assurances that GCRMC is not in financial distress,” said the letter, signed by members of the New Mexico American Civil Liberties Union and Bold Futures NM.

Both Christus Health and Gerald Champion spokespeople confirmed the merger attaching a press release as the ACLU was mobilizing.

MainGate United (the same Chamber group championing the Charter School to a divided community), a subcommittee of the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce on its website, posted photos of the “contract signing ceremony” on Facebook. The photos included tables draped with purple Christus Health tablecloths framed by violet and lavender balloons.

As a result of the rash of acquisitions, including the Christus Health acquisition locally last year, New Mexico lawmakers enacted the current legislation that directs the insurance superintendent to consider a number of factors in proposed mergers and acquisitions, including whether the deal would reduce or eliminate access to essential services; drive up costs; affect “availability, accessibility and quality” of health care to the local community; or stifle competition.

The office can approve proposed deals outright, approve them with conditions or block the transaction altogether.

No new merger or acquisition has occurred in the months since the legislation was passed.

For more information on the hearings and need for puvlic comment visit:

https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=9GuqBDbUb0K_pAS3pw5…