The state’s Office of Health Strategy is setting up a working group to study the regulation of mergers and acquisitions among Connecticut physician practices.
A law passed by the General Assembly during its last session requires OHS to study methods for enhancing oversight of mergers and acquisitions of physician practices in order to improve healthcare quality and choice.
To that end, the agency is now recruiting consumer advocates, independent providers, hospital providers, insurance representatives and others to fill out the working group, whose findings will be used to draft legislative recommendations for improving the reporting and regulation of relevant M&A deals.
OHS must make its recommendations to the legislature no later than Feb. 1, 2023, according to the law.
Those interested in joining the working group must submit an application to OHS by Sept. 24.
State regulators have kept a watchful eye on linkups and buyouts among doctors groups in recent years over concerns that consolidation could adversely impact patient choice. In 2014, the legislature passed a law requiring certain medical practices to provide the attorney general’s office with 30 days’ notice prior to completing a merger or affiliation with a hospital or health care system, one of the first reporting mandates of its kind in the country.
