AG ​Neronha announced today that the Office has issued a regulation requiring pre-merger notification for certain transactions involving medical practice groups, including those involving private equity firms. Pursuant to the Office’s regulatory and antitrust authorities, this regulation enables the Office to review and investigate potentially anticompetitive transactions to prevent excessive market consolidation, slow the growth of health care prices, and protect the quality of care.

“Rhode Island’s health care system faces challenges on many fronts. But first and foremost, it is a crisis of access. Rhode Islanders everywhere struggle to find quality health care, especially primary care. At the same time, private equity and increasing market consolidation drive up the cost of care, further inhibiting patient access. This regulation gives my Office a bird’s eye view to ensure that future medical group mergers do not harm Rhode Islanders’ access to health care services. For our part, we will continue to pull the levers available to us to ensure that all Rhode Islanders have unencumbered access to affordable, quality health care.” – AG Neronha