In a blow to the Biden Administration’s goal to heighten enforcement of labor-related competitor agreements, a Maine jury on Wednesday acquitted four home-health operators who were accused of conspiring to fix the wages of home-health workers in the Spring of 2020. The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) had alleged that the operators violated Section 1 … Continue Reading
The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) recently withdrew three policy statements regarding conduct in the healthcare sector. The statements withdrawn are the Department of Justice and FTC Antitrust Enforcement Policy Statements in the Health Care Area (dated September 1993); the Statement of Antitrust Enforcement Policy in Health Care (dated August 1996); and the Statement of … Continue Reading
On Monday, September 19, 2022, D.C. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols rejected the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) request to block UnitedHealth’s $13.8 billion acquisition of Change Healthcare. UnitedHealth is the largest health insurer in the United States, while Change Healthcare is a leading data clearinghouse for insurance claims. The DOJ initially filed suit to … Continue Reading
For healthcare entities that use non-compete agreements, the landscape has changed as much recently as it has at any point in recent memory. Several developments at the federal level have created a potential pitfall that did not materially exist until recently, i.e., a non-compete agreement violating antitrust law. Further, several recent state laws have heightened … Continue Reading
On February 24, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed suit to block UnitedHealth’s proposed acquisition of Change Healthcare. UnitedHealth owns the largest health insurer in the U.S., while Change Healthcare is a data company whose software is the largest processor of health insurance claims in the U.S. The DOJ alleges that the acquisition, … Continue Reading
Yet another UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) merger referral for in-depth investigation, this time in the healthcare sector confirming the CMA’s willingness “to ensure that the NHS does not pay significantly more than it should” for products/services.[1] The merging parties, Imprivata and Isosec, provide similar Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions that allow staff … Continue Reading
The Department of Justice kicked off 2021 with its first publicly filed, two-count indictment against Surgical Care Affiliates, LLC (SCA) and successor entity Scai Holdings, LLC, both accused of criminal antitrust violations for agreeing with other healthcare companies not to solicit each other’s senior-level employees. The charges are the first to come out of an … Continue Reading
Last week the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its decision to fine Spire and 7 consultants ophthalmologists operating in its Macclesfield hospital for fixing “the level of the initial consultation fees charged by the Ophthalmologists at the Hospital” (para 3.34). This is a classic ‘price-fixing’ decision against ophthalmologists who agreed to charge the … Continue Reading
COVID-19 outbreak has caused major disruption of supply chains and a steep rise in demand for certain products and services, notably in the health sector. These circumstances risk leading to shortages in critical medical goods used to treat COVID-19 patients, but also in other essential goods and services outside the health sector. Tackling these exceptional general supply shocks … Continue Reading
In a joint statement on the application of EU and national competition law during the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) crisis, the European Competition Network (ECN) recognized that competitors, supplier and distributors may need to cooperate with each other to ensure the supply and fair distribution of scarce products to all consumers. For example, a few … Continue Reading
Recent years have seen significant vertical integration in the healthcare space, whether megamergers such as CVS-Aetna and Cigna-Express Scripts, or the numerous hospital and health system acquisitions of physician groups and other non-hospital healthcare providers. These vertical mergers—combining assets that are used at different levels of the supply chain—have largely escaped significant antitrust scrutiny since … Continue Reading
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the competition regulator in the UK, has undertaken a number of investigations into suspected anticompetitive practices in the pharma sector in recent years. Most recently, the CMA announced on 3 October 2019 that it has issued a Statement of Objections to pharmaceutical companies Aspen, Amilco and Tiofarma. The CMA’s … Continue Reading
A recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) final rule reduces some Medicare reimbursements to hospitals in 2018, paying 28 percent less for certain “specified covered outpatient drugs” (SCODs) purchased at a discount through the 340B Drug Pricing Program (340B). Although hospitals recently lost a challenge to the lower CMS rates in American Hospital Association … Continue Reading
According to press reports, CVS/Caremark’s proposed $66 billion acquisition of Aetna is at the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) for antitrust review, as opposed to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Under our bifurcated system of antitrust review, both agencies theoretically could have made a claim for the deal. The FTC historically has reviewed transactions … Continue Reading
As discussed previously here, here, and here, antitrust matters are a key consideration in the design of the Shared Savings Program and ACO development. For example, antitrust review of prospective ACOs by the FTC and/or DOJ is a critical aspect of the ACO application process. Despite the release of the joint statement, there is evidence … Continue Reading
On Friday, April 8, Peter Pavarini and I co-presented a webinar overviewing the ACO regulations from a legal perspective. We were part of a three-firm “task force” that came together to analyze the rules and provide guidance to our clients and friends. In addition to Squire Sanders, Paul Lee and others from Strategic Health Care and … Continue Reading
In commentary to the proposed regulations, CMS has committed to coordinate with other Federal agencies on various issues that relate to the Shared Savings Program. This includes coordination with the FTC and DOJ (the “Antitrust Agencies”) with respect to antitrust issues. This coordination is shown through CMS’s intention to incorporate the FTC/DOJ Proposed Statement on … Continue Reading
The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice (the “Agencies”) recently released Proposed Statement of Antitrust Enforcement Policy Regarding ACOs, which contains several points of interest: Rule of Reason Treatment. The Agencies will provide rule of reason treatment to an ACO if, in the commercial market, the ACO uses the same governance and leadership structure and … Continue Reading
Several important antitrust points of interest in the hot-off-the-presses ACO regulations issued today: The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have a new challenge – figuring rules of the road as joint administrators of the ACO antitrust review process, acting through a newly formed joint working committee. The agencies will either have to … Continue Reading
