Read the quoted study: Arnold DR, Reddy M, Cantor J, et al. Private Equity in Autism Services. JAMA Pediatr. 2026;180(3):341-343. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.5443
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Jada Owens: Pivot to policy
After witnessing stark racial disparities in Alzheimer’s care, Jada Owens pivoted from medicine to policy. The Brown Health Equity Scholar is headed to D.C. for a one-year Winston Fellowship to help shape the future of U.S. health care.
Could a hospital sue you? In Virginia, it happened 1 million times
By Ken Alltucker
Will the Allina-Sutter Health deal drive up the cost of health care in Minnesota?
By Christopher Snowbeck
Medicaid autism therapy boom triggers crackdown
By Maya Goldman
Delaware lawmakers try again to cap the state’s excessive hospital costs
By Sarah Mueller
Merchant Cash Advances Surface in Health-Care Bankruptcies
By Angelica Serrano-Roman
Two Very Different States Take Aim at Soaring Hospital Price
But are price controls the answer?
How a Die-Hard Libertarian Is Negotiating Lower Health-Care Costs
By Rowan Moore Gerety
A new perk for state workers: free surgery
by Michelle Crouch and Charlotte Ledger
Broward children lack hospital choices. Parents want state to force Florida Blue to negotiate
By Cindy Krischer Goodman
After PBMs, lawmakers start to scrutinize wholesale drug distributors
Analysis by Rebecca Adams
Patients feel strain of Florida Blue fallout with Broward hospitals: ‘Just lunacy’
By Michelle Marchante and Amanda Rosa
RI's health care problems: 3 takeaways from Brown’s health care summit
By Jonny Williams
Leaders gather for an authentic, lively conversation about health care policy in Rhode Island
By Corrie Pikul
Senators raise concerns about TrumpRx in letter to HHS watchdog
By Katie Palmer
Medicare Advantage Insurers Face New Curbs on Overcharges in Trump Plan That Reins in Payments
By Fred Schulte
Trump administration signals there’s widespread desire to curb Medicare Advantage
By Bob Herman
Medicare Proposal Seeks to Limit Insurer Tactic, Extra Payments
By Ganny Belloni
When profit kills: How private equity is eroding health care
by Pamela Ferdinand
Podcast: How Oregon’s Hospital Payment Cap Brought Stability Amid Change
Featuring Roslyn Murray. Video recording can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSpewnFxlmA&list=PLIOPYzSfs3z5G7yjt1UWy5cynn2I-zsdz&index=1
‘Like a Timeshare’: Doctors Get Creative as Rents Climb
By Jane Margolies
Should Rhode Island save its failing hospitals?
By Andrew Ryan and Emily Shearer
Marrying for health insurance? The ACA cost crisis forces some drastic choices
By Selena Simmons-Duffin
Private equity firms acquired more than 500 autism centers in past decade, study shows
A new study from researchers at the Brown University School of Public Health highlights a push from private equity investors into autism therapy centers across the nation.
Autism Therapy Centers Targeted By Private Equity In U.S., Study Reveals
By HealthDay
First-in-the-nation Oregon law capping state employee hospital payments is working, study says
by Shaanth Nanguneri
Data on Humana’s clinics looked dismal. Then its corporate research machine got to work
By Casey Ross and Tara Bannow
Oregon’s first-in-nation hospital price cap hasn’t hurt care, finances so far, study finds
By Kristine de Leon
Some more things that didn’t suck in 2025
"New state laws tackle the burden of medical debt and the corporate take-over of medicine."
Insurer use of algorithms cuts SNF length of stay by 13%
by Kimberly Marselas
How to lower America’s soaring health-care costs
Meaningful opportunities to reduce U.S. health-care costs already exist but are often overshadowed by the focus on more politically prominent proposals.
Podcast: Does UnitedHealthcare Pay Optum Providers Differently? w/ Dan Arnold
Interview by Rob Lott
How much damage did the federal shutdown do to telehealth?
By Mario Aguilar
As Health Companies Get Bigger, So Do the Bills. It’s Unclear if Trump’s Team Will Intervene.
The article explains how growing consolidation among insurers, hospitals, and physician groups is driving higher prices and fewer choices for patients, while current antitrust tools struggle to keep up with these increasingly complex mergers.
It's open enrollment time in RI. How to choose between Medicare, Medicare Advantage
While Medicare Advantage offers many advantages, it also has drawbacks that should be considered
Study suggests UnitedHealthcare pays Optum docs more than other providers
Researchers found UnitedHealthcare paid 17% more to Optum than to other providers.
UnitedHealthcare pays Optum doctors more than other doctors: study
Researchers said the results suggest UnitedHealth may be sidestepping government rules meant to keep a lid on exorbitant payer profits.
HCA eyes ‘substantial growth’ of investor-owned hospitals amid rising costs in Washington
The trend toward investor ownership is part of a broader national shift in health-care consolidation, said Hayden Rooke-Ley, a senior fellow at Brown University’s School of Public Health. Over the last decade, large non-hospital retailers such as Amazon and Walgreens, along with insurance conglomerates, have restructured to own or manage medical practices, drug distributors and wholesalers.
6 things to know if your doctors are suddenly out of network
Heard on All Things Considered
By Bram Sable-Smith
By Bram Sable-Smith
Fairview-UnitedHealthcare rift deepens, highlighting broader stress over costs
By Christopher Snowbeck
A colonoscopy costs nearly eight times more at one RI hospital than another. Why?
This article quotes Brown University researchers Chris Whaley and Roslyn Murray from the CAHPR, who explain that wide hospital price differences across Rhode Island stem less from care quality and more from market consolidation. Whaley noted that “there’s really not a strong relationship between price and quality,” while Murray pointed to “empire-building tactics” and consolidation that give large health systems leverage to raise prices and obscure transparency
People-Centered Science
In an era where the value of scientific research is increasingly undermined, Brown University public health scholars remain steadfast, showing how high-quality public health science protects people, shapes policy and transforms the health of our nation.
California Governor Signs SB 351, Strengthening the State’s Corporate Practice of Medicine Doctrine
On October 6, 2025, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 351, aimed at limiting the involvement of private equity groups and hedge funds in health care practices.
Commercial insurers paying $1,500 more per procedure at HOPDs than ASCs: study
This article discusses a Brown University study showing that commercial insurers pay nearly $1,500 more per procedure at hospital outpatient departments than at ambulatory surgical centers. The findings highlight large price variations across insurers and suggest opportunities for cost savings through selective contracting or site-neutral payment reforms.
Hospitals get dinged for reporting too many infections. In some cases, the solution is not to test
Hospitals are discouraging infection testing to avoid Medicare penalties, a practice clinicians say jeopardizes patient safety and skews public reporting. As Brown University’s Andrew Ryan put it, “Basically, the measures are just really, really bad … this is honestly the worst” pay-for-performance program, underscoring deep flaws in how infection penalties are designed and enforced.
Why UnitedHealth’s Medicare Advantage program is under attack
UnitedHealth’s Medicare Advantage program has come under scrutiny for allegedly exploiting diagnostic “upcoding” practices that drive billions in excess federal payments. Brown University researchers have launched Medicoding.org, a public tool that tracks how diagnostic coding in Medicare Advantage inflates payments to insurers. Health economist David Meyers explains that while some coding reflects real patient needs, much of the increase stems from insurers “gaming the system,” making beneficiaries appear sicker than they are
House lawmakers scrutinize nonprofit hospitals’ tax-exempt status
Republican lawmakers pressed for stricter oversight of nonprofit hospitals at a House hearing, arguing that many exploit tax exemptions while providing limited charity care. Witnesses, including Brown University’s Christopher Whaley, highlighted that current reporting structures obscure hospital-level community benefit, and urged stronger, more transparent requirements to ensure accountability.
Lawmakers can ensure that nonprofit hospitals benefit communities, Brown scholar tells Congress
In testimony before Congress, Brown University researcher Christopher Whaley revealed that many nonprofit hospitals reap massive financial benefits yet spend far less on community health than their tax exemptions are worth. With bipartisan concern mounting, Whaley urged reforms to ensure tax breaks translate into affordable, high-quality care for patients — not executive perks or stadium sponsorships.
Private equity ownership of opioid treatment programs has not improved access or decreased deaths, Brown University study finds
This article reports on a Health Affairs study led by Brown University researchers analyzed over a decade of private equity acquisitions in opioid treatment programs across 43 states. The findings show that despite rapid growth in private equity ownership, there were no measurable improvements in methadone access, treatment expansion, or opioid-related mortality
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