PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Congressional Research Service
No official summary is available in the imported record yet.
People & committees
Rep. Spartz, Victoria [R-IN-5] · R–IN
Legislative record
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Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 28, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2026-08-27 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed Competition in State Healthcare Markets Act would require the Department of Health and Human Services to study health care competition and consolidation in each of the 10 years following enactment. It would examine state licensing rules, mergers, insurance options, and the number and concentration of health care providers. Congress would receive annual reports, and the public would have access to those reports and interactive study data.
This Act may be cited as the Competition in State Healthcare Markets Act.
Over each of the 10 years following the date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of the Department of Health and Human Services (in this section referred to as the Assistant Secretary) shall conduct a study on health care competition and consolidation at the State level.
Not later than the end of each of the 10 years referred to in subsection (a), the Assistant Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a report on the status and results of the study under this section.
(A) publish on the website of the Office of the Assistant Secretary the report submitted under paragraph (1) for the respective year; and (B) make the data collected through the study under this section available to the public on such website in a manner that is publicly accessible and interactive.
The proposed study requirement would run for 10 years following enactment. The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation would conduct it and would have to consult the Federal Trade Commission chair and the Justice Department official responsible for antitrust enforcement.
Over each of the 10 years following the date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of the Department of Health and Human Services (in this section referred to as the Assistant Secretary) shall conduct a study on health care competition and consolidation at the State level.
In conducting the study under this section, the Assistant Secretary shall consult with the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission and the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice.
The Assistant Secretary could request information from the Federal Trade Commission needed for the study's merger and acquisition data collection. The commission's chair would have to provide that information upon request.
The Assistant Secretary may secure from the Federal Trade Commission information necessary to enable the Assistant Secretary to carry out subsection (d)(2). Upon request of the Assistant Secretary, the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission shall furnish that information to the Assistant Secretary.
(2) Mergers and acquisitions (both vertical and horizontal)
The study would collect licensing requirements for doctors, nurses, and other health care practitioners. These would include initial and continuing licensure, training and medical education, supervision during residency, and board certification.
The study under this section shall include data collection on each of the following: (1) Licensing requirements for doctors, nurses, and other health care practitioners, including requirements with respect to— (A) initial licensure; (B) ongoing maintenance of licensure; (C) specific training and postgraduate and continuing medical education; (D) residency supervisory requirements; and (E) board certification.
The study would collect data on mergers and acquisitions involving hospitals, outpatient practices, outpatient surgical centers, health insurers, providers of services such as physical or occupational therapy, and telehealth.
(2) Mergers and acquisitions (both vertical and horizontal), involving— (A) hospitals; (B) ambulatory or outpatient practices; (C) ambulatory surgical centers; (D) health insurance providers; (E) habilitative service providers (such as providers of physical therapy or occupational therapy); and (F) telehealth.
The study would count state laws that establish hospital merger approval processes, called certificates of public advantage. It would also count state laws regulating growth in construction of new health care facilities, called certificates of need.
(3) The number of— (A) State laws establishing a legal mechanism by which a State approves mergers between or among two or more hospitals (commonly referred to as certificates of public advantage); and (B) State laws establishing a legal mechanism for regulating the growth of construction of new health care facilities (commonly referred to as certificates of need).
The study would examine the availability of alternative insurance coverage, including short-term limited duration insurance and health plans offered through associations. The latter category expressly includes plans offered through the American Farm Bureau Federation.
(4) The availability of alternative forms of health insurance coverage, including— (A) short-term limited duration insurance (as defined for purposes of section 2791(b)(5) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–91(b)(5)); and (B) association health plans (including plans offered through the American Farm Bureau Federation).
For each year of the 10-year study, the department would count specified providers operating at the beginning and end of the year: hospitals, medical practices, outpatient practices, outpatient surgical centers, health insurers, and providers of habilitative services, such as physical or occupational therapy.
(5) The number of each of the following in operation at the start and the end of each year covered by the 10-year study period: (A) Hospitals. (B) Medical practices. (C) Ambulatory or outpatient practices. (D) Ambulatory surgical centers. (E) Health insurance providers. (F) Habilitative service providers.
habilitative service providers (such as providers of physical therapy or occupational therapy)
The study would include the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index, a measure of market concentration, for general acute care hospital services, outpatient medical services broken down by specialty, and habilitative services. The Assistant Secretary would define the geographic areas in consultation with the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition.
(6) The Herfindahl–Hirschman Index, within geographic areas defined by the Assistant Secretary in consultation with the Bureau of Competition of the Federal Trade Commission, for the following health care services: (A) General acute care hospital services. (B) Ambulatory or outpatient medical services, disaggregated by medical specialty. (C) Habilitative services.
By the end of each study year, the Assistant Secretary would have to report the study's status and results to four congressional committees: House Energy and Commerce, House Ways and Means, Senate Finance, and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The same deadline would apply to publishing that year's report and making the study data publicly accessible and interactive on the office's website.
(e) Annual reports (1) In general Not later than the end of each of the 10 years referred to in subsection (a), the Assistant Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a report on the status and results of the study under this section.
(2) Publication; publicly accessible datasets Not later than the end of each of the 10 years referred to in subsection (a), the Assistant Secretary shall— (A) publish on the website of the Office of the Assistant Secretary the report submitted under paragraph (1) for the respective year; and (B) make the data collected through the study under this section available to the public on such website in a manner that is publicly accessible and interactive.
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated August 28, 2026, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on August 27, 2026.
Source snapshot updated 2026-08-28T14:01:23Z. 2026-08-27: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. 2026-08-27: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2026-08-27. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish the contents of other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version; formal earmark status in accompanying materials cannot be established.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow exemption, preferential treatment, or special benefit was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. Inclusion as a subject of study does not itself confer preferential treatment. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish the contents of other versions or accompanying materials.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Aug 28, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI