This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct an annual study for 10 years measuring healthcare competition and consolidation across states. The study will track data on professional licensing requirements for doctors and nurses, hospital and insurance company mergers, state approval mechanisms for healthcare facility expansion, alternative insurance options, and the number of hospitals and medical practices operating in each state. The department will work with the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department's Antitrust Division to collect this information and use the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index—a standard measure of market concentration—to assess competition in healthcare services like hospitals and ambulatory care. Each year, the department must publish detailed reports to Congress and make all collected data publicly available online in an interactive format. The bill has no specific funding authorization mentioned, but establishes a decade-long data collection and reporting requirement aimed at understanding whether healthcare markets are becoming more or less competitive at the state level.
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