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KFF designs, conducts and analyzes original public opinion and survey research on Americans’ attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with the health care system to help amplify the public’s voice in major national debates.
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This analysis finds that Medicare's negotiated prices for 10 high-expenditure prescription drugs are lower than what private Medicare drug plans had been paying, but still much higher than the prices available in 11 other wealthy nations.. It is available on the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker.
This brief explains the role and implications of cross-market mergers between hospitals and health systems that operate in different regions and describes the approaches that government antitrust agencies have taken in reviewing these types of transactions.
Ultimately, assessing the impact of President Trump’s newest iteration of “Most Favored Nation” drug pricing depends on details that have yet to be fleshed out.
Nearly half (47%) of metropolitan areas across the country had only one or two hospitals or health systems providing general inpatient hospital care in 2022, a new KFF analysis finds.The analysis examines the extent of competition among hospitals amid a wave of hospital consolidation that has drawn the attention of state and federal regulators.
High U.S. prices and demand for Ozempic and Wegovy have implications for insurance premiums, public program costs, and affordability.
This analysis examines the competitiveness of markets for hospital care based on the share of metropolitan areas controlled by a small number of independent hospitals or health systems and other measures. It finds that nearly half of metropolitan areas across the country had only one or two hospitals or health systems providing general inpatient hospital care in 2022.
Promoting price transparency in health care is a policy approach with bi-partisan support in Congress and the public at large. This analysis examines the vast troves of price transparency data that payers are required and finds unlikely prices, inconsistencies, and other oddities that pose major challenges for efforts to use it to promote competition and drive down prices.
This issue brief examines the role that hospital charity care programs play in helping patients who are unable to afford their care. It describes how hospital charity care programs work, the amount of charity care that hospitals provide, relevant federal and state regulation, the role of Medicare and Medicaid in helping hospitals afford charity care expenses, and policy proposals related to charity care programs.
Since 2021, federal law has required hospitals to publicly post information about their standard prices and negotiated discount rates for common health services to encourage consumers to compare prices and to promote competition.
Mergers and acquisitions involving hospitals and other health care providers are drawing attention from federal and state regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission, and policymakers amid concerns that such consolidations can reduce competition and contribute to the high costs of health care.
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