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Advocates are pressing Governor Gavin Newsom to sign a bill to increase transparency in health care mergers involving private equity firms or hedge funds. Assembly Bill 1415 would allow the state Office of Health Care Affordability to collect information from the private equity firms seeking to buy a hospital or medical group.

Katie Van Deynze, senior policy and legislative advocate with the nonprofit Health Access, said right now the agency can only get data from one side of the proposed transaction.

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"We really want to know the history of the private equity owner that is engaging in this merger, and the specifics of what is being proposed, and the potential impact for consumers and communities," she contended.

The California Hospital Association opposes the bill, arguing that it would further empower an agency that has imposed spending caps that it says hamstring hospitals’ ability to deliver care. The bill has already passed both houses of the Legislature. The governor has until October 12th to make his decision.

Adam Zarrin, director of state government affairs with the nonprofit Blood Cancer United, said the data from private equity firms will give policymakers insight that can help them control costs for patients.

"Four in 10 cancer patients either skip or delay treatment because of high costs or medical debt," he explained. "We think this bill helps address underlying cost drivers in the health-care system."

Blood Cancer United just released a study that found that over the last 20 years, the number of private equity acquisitions has grown by almost four times the rate of non-private equity acquisitions. And according to the California Health Care Foundation, private equity acquisitions of health-care providers in California totaled more than $4 billion between 2019 and 2023.