HPC updates market oversight reviews, declines full review of UMass–Milford deal; Steward sales remain under bankruptcy auction

The Health Policy Commission, meeting July 18 at the Altman Conference Center, reported on recent notices of material change and ongoing market oversight work, including an active cost-and-market-impact review of a proposed clinical affiliation among Dana-Farber, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians.

At the meeting, Kate Mills of commission staff said the HPC has received notice of 170 provider transactions since 2013 and that the Dana-Farber–Beth Israel review remains active while the parties continue producing information to the commission. "We have formally initiated the cost of Market impact review and ... that party production to us is not yet complete, so our clock is temporarily paused," Mills said.

Mills also summarized staff’s preliminary review of UMass’s proposed acquisition of Milford Regional Medical Center. Staff found that the parties’ service areas are already highly concentrated and that the transaction was likely to increase that concentration and the parties’ future bargaining leverage. At the same time, Mills said UMass had committed to maintain all essential services at Milford for five years, and staff concluded the acquisition could preserve access in the region given Milford’s recent financial losses. Weighed together, the commission "elected not to conduct a cost and Market impact review of the transaction," Mills said.

Commissioners pressed staff on how the HPC tracks serial or "roll-up" acquisitions and how state filing thresholds differ from federal review thresholds. Mills said the HPC is tracking longitudinal transactions and noted federal reviews often rely on hard dollar thresholds that differ from the commission’s approach.

Staff also briefed commissioners on other filings under review, including a proposed joint venture between BMC Health System and an imaging services provider to open MRI/CT clinics, South Coast Health System’s planned acquisition of Same Day Surgicare of New England, and a proposed acquisition of select Bioreference assets by Laboratory Corporation of America. Mills said the HPC will update the board as findings become available.

On Steward Health, staff said Optum publicly stated it no longer intends to proceed with its previously announced acquisition, but the parties had not withdrawn their notices. "Bids for the hospitals in Massachusetts were updated; those deadlines were required to have been submitted on Monday with an auction taking place today, July 18," staff reported, adding that bid and auction details are not publicly disclosed while the process continues.

The commission said it will continue monitoring filings and any subsequent notices of material change tied to sales or ownership changes in these matters.