A bill before the California Legislature would give the attorney general oversight of large private equity transactions in health care. Here, a patient room sits in the emergency room unit of Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital in Hollister on March 30, 2023.
Since its introduction in February, the bill has coasted through two Democratic-controlled Assembly committees on party-line votes, but that’s no guarantee it will reach Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Several previous attempts at similar legislation died quietly., is authored by Assembly’s second-highest ranking Democrat, Jim Wood. The dentist and former Healdsburg mayor has announced he’s leaving office.
Rony Berdugo, the association’s lobbyist, told the Assembly Health Committee earlier this month that private investment is sometimes key to saving struggling local health care institutions.. Founded in 2022, the new state agency can block major health care transactions until it completes an analysis of the impacts on the local health care market, Berdugo said.
Almost all of the consolidations fall below the $101 million threshold that triggers an antitrust review by the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Justice Department, the analysis said.The bill is supported “in concept” by the California Medical Association, a lobbying powerhouse that represents the state’s physicians. Other doctors groups in support include the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, California Physicians Alliance and the California State Association of Psychiatrists.