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Committee votes 9-0 to endorse oversight bill for health-system consolidations
Summary
A Senate committee voted unanimously to give a do-pass recommendation to House Bill 586, which would extend and expand review of certain hospital and provider transactions and transfer oversight from the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance to the Health Care Authority.
A Senate committee on Monday gave a 9-0 do-pass recommendation to House Bill 586, the Health Care Consolidation Oversight Act, which would extend and expand state review of certain hospital and health-care provider transactions and move the oversight function from the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance to the state Health Care Authority.
The bill sponsor told the committee the measure builds on a stopgap law that automatically repeals July 1, 2025, and adds public comment, public-process requirements, enforcement authority and whistleblower protections. The sponsor said the bill applies to changes of control of a hospital and to acquisitions of health-care practices by provider organizations affiliated with insurers, and that the Health Care Authority would evaluate whether a transaction would affect patient care, quality, affordability or accessibility and workforce conditions.
The bill sponsor said the proposal is not intended to block transactions but to ensure they do not harm health care in New Mexico. "Up until we passed SB 15 last year, we were one of, I think, only 11 states in the country that didn't have something in place to look at these transactions," the sponsor told the committee, adding New Mexico has a high share of private-equity-owned hospitals.
Supporters who testified during the allotted public-comment period included Kat Sanchez of Bold Futures New Mexico, Diana Warren, a reproductive-rights and gender-equity attorney with the ACLU of New Mexico, Troy Clark, president and CEO of the New Mexico Hospital Association, and Dan Najjar representing Lovelace Health System. Kat Sanchez said the bill preserves community engagement for areas affected by consolidations. Warren said oversight with direct community participation can help ensure consolidations do not reduce access to care, especially in rural areas. Clark and Najjar thanked the sponsors and administration for working on language acceptable to hospitals.
Committee members asked why oversight is shifted from the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance to the Health Care Authority. The bill sponsor said the Health Care Authority already licenses the facilities through its Division of Health Improvement and that hospitals had requested the change.
Senator O'Malley moved the do-pass recommendation; Senator Bergman seconded. After brief discussion the committee recorded all present and the motion carried 9-0.
The committee noted there is a committee substitute for the bill. The sponsor said the law passed last year was intended as a temporary stopgap; the current bill would continue and expand the review process and add public-process elements. The Health Care Authority and the Department of Health secretaries were present for the hearing, the sponsor said.
